


Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars

by DrCrusher



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, OC/Canon, Romance, Video Game Mechanics, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2020-10-10 01:57:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 50,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20520077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrCrusher/pseuds/DrCrusher
Summary: (FANFIC/FAN-GAME COMBO) The beauty and culture of Viridonia attracts weary heroes… and ambitious villains. Sonic and Tails, forced to put their vacation time to the side, are joined by the plucky equine Lutrudis Hadeer - and a few familiar faces, good and bad alike - as they protect the island of mystery from Dr. Eggman’s clutches, all the while taking on a mysterious beast known as the Wraith. But what exactly is the doctor planning, and how does it relate to the Wraith…? Little do the heroes know, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before, as their journey takes them to a land like no other…





	1. Adieu, Vacation

****“…zzz…”

“Sonic.”

“…zzz…zzz…”

“Sonic…”

“Zzz… zzz… zzz…”

“Hey. Sonic.”

“Urgh… what?”

“We’re nearly here.”

“Oh! Great!”

Awakening from his deep slumber… on the wing of the Tornado… Sonic the Hedgehog slowly opened his eyes and wiped them, and when he could see more clearly, he was dazzled by what he saw.

The sea below their flight was just as faintly green as it was blue, making for a shimmering spectacle of colour. But what was up ahead was even greater: An island of truly impressive scope, far greater in size than South Island and Westside Island combined. Some would say it’s even larger than the floating Angel Island. All sorts of sights and geography could be seen to the naked eye even from afar. And if you looked at it from above, you would notice its shape was perfectly circular, like a smooth gemstone.

This island, known to the world at large as **Viridonia**, was where Sonic and his best friend Tails were planning to take a well-needed vacation. Saving the world was hard work, and after all the trials these two have faced, you couldn’t say they didn’t deserve it. But is it possible that malicious intentions could come along to make a mess of their intended vacation time…?

Well… we’ll get to that when we get to that.

“Looks stunning, doesn’t it?” Sonic asked out loud, with a massive grin on his face.

“It sure does,” answered Tails with a smile, as he took in the pleasant view. “I’ve heard great things about this place, but seeing it is another story. I can’t even begin to think of where to start with somewhere so big!”

“We have all the time in the world for that, so what’s the rush?” Sonic glanced at the island once again, this time with a more thoughtful expression. “I just hope there’s no trouble from Eggman this time around. We never get a break from him, do we?”

“Actually,” Tails pointed out with a raised finger. “You told me there was no Eggman in those books that were lent to you. Well, technically there was a guy who _looked _like Eggman in the first one, but…”

“Alright, don’t get technical with me,” Sonic poked his tongue out in light jest. He then motioned towards the ground. “Okay, we’re getting real close, let’s find a spot to land.”

“Right away,” the fox obeyed, before adding “And uh… don’t worry, I made sure to install the landing gear this time.”

“Oh. Nice.”

——

They landed on an empty stretch of sand by the sea, having made sure they wouldn’t land in a place that would cause too much interference. The little beach was peppered with turquoise rocks that looked and shined like real gems, and the sand itself was more white than it was yellow. Despite being by the sea, the town nearby had a very modern appearance, full of elegant buildings teeming with a glassy sheen. As Tails spent a little more time fiddling around with the Tornado, Sonic wasted no time in admiring the setting, glancing at the many species of citizens walking around, minding their own business.

“Heh heh… just look at all this,” Sonic said to himself as he marveled at the shining buildings, hands on his hips. He was definitely liking the look of his vacation spot. “So much to see, so much to do. And it’s just me and Tails.”

_“~Soniiiiiic!~”_

“And… Amy?”

Sonic turned to his right to find none other than Amy Rose, who was currently sprinting over to him with a big grin. Her younger friend, Cream, was tagging along behind her.

“Fancy seeing you here!” Amy beamed. Her tail was unashamedly wagging away in excitement.

“Oh uh, hey Amy…” Sonic muttered out of surprise. “Didn’t know you’d be here… Why ARE you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We wanted to go on a vacation of our own! And we just HAD to come here when we read all about it.” She looked over to Cream, who simply nodded. “We haven’t seen much of the place yet, but there’s no hurry, right?”

Sonic looked over at Cream, as if he was expecting something from her.

“She’s telling the truth, Mr. Sonic,” the rabbit assured.

“Okay, good.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” The pink hedgehog frowned as she crossed her arms. “You didn’t think I just followed you here like some creepy weirdo, did you?”

“No, of course not,” Sonic chuckled. “I’m sure you wouldn’t do that… probably.”

“Good! We didn’t know you would be here, but how lucky for us that you are! Maybe we can go to the little park in Cosmic City together… maybe find the perfect spot for the two of us, _~hmm~_?” She winked playfully, complete with a little spin.

“…Maybe. Maybe. We’ll see,” Sonic said in a very neutral manner, although he couldn’t help but smirk at his friend’s ever present determination. As he walked off to see how Tails was doing, Amy turned and noticed that Cream looked uncomfortable, despite the lack of any apparent danger.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Amy asked out of concern. “You still feeling a little anxious?”

The rabbit just nodded silently. Her hands were mildly fidgeting.

“Well, that’s okay, you know.” She put her hand on Cream’s shoulder. “But your mother wouldn’t have let you come with me if she felt it would be a bad idea… Although then again… she didn’t mind you taking on evil monsters… or evil robots… and going through all sorts of dangerous places…” She shook her head and hoped her friend didn’t hear that part. “This is meant to be a good time for both of us, Cream. It’s why I brought you along, after all.”

“I know, and I appreciate that very much, Amy,” the girl thanked her politely. “Maybe I could have a little look around… but I won’t go too far away from you, okay?”

“I know you won’t,” Amy smiled.

Meanwhile, Sonic was busy conversing with Tails. “I guess it won’t just be us two after all while we’re over here…”

“Is that really a bad thing?” Tails asked, as he skimmed through the pages of his Viridonia guidebook. “I mean, it’s just Amy and Cream. They’re not likely to cause trouble.”

“True,” Sonic shrugged as he looked to the side. He followed it up with a smile. “It’s been a while since I hanged out with them anyway, so maybe this is a good opportuni-”

“OH MY GOD, IT’S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!!!”

“Sonic the Hedgehog!?!? Wow, it really IS Sonic the Hedgehog!!!!”

“Sonic? And Tails? SONIC AND TAILS!?”

Within seconds, a bunch of guys and gals had surrounded the two friends, rapidly shaking hands with them and asking for autographs. Sonic, clearly used to this routine, handled it all very smoothly. Tails was considerably more flustered about getting so much sudden attention. They both received their share of emotionally-charged questions from the crowd.

“What’s it like being the fastest thing alive!?”

“How do you make all those cool machines!?”

“What’s the toughest battle you’ve ever been in…?”

“How fluffy are those tails?”

“WHEN WILL YOU AND AMY _KISS???_”

“Wait, did Amy tell you to ask that one?” Sonic inquired accusingly.

_“OH MY GOD, AMY’S HERE TOO???”_

“Uh… sorry Amy!” Sonic called out in his friend’s direction, with the knowledge that she would soon get overwhelmed with fans of her own.

——

In an effort to get herself acquainted with where she’ll be staying for the next few days, Cream had wandered into a nearby forest, accompanied by her loyal pet, Cheese. She took her time looking around, making sure she didn’t get too lost in the place. The leaves were of an autumnal flavor, and fireflies could be seen lighting the place up, even during the daytime. The young rabbit was impressed with the scene, an innocent smile having planted itself on her face the whole time.

“It’s so pretty, isn’t it Cheese?” Her Chao friend nodded. “Maybe it was a little silly of me to get so tense. It’s just a new experience for us, you know? I wonder if Amy would like this… Maybe Mr. Sonic would like it too? …Cheese? What’s the matter?”

Noticing her friend was distracted by something, Cream turned her head in the same direction to see what had caught his attention. To her surprise, in front of them was a massive castle, much like the ones she had seen in many a fairytale as read by her mother. Its structures, made of solid stone, were all impeccably smooth, as were its dark green rooftops. The scene was complimented with a magnificent view of the distant hills from behind, as well as a gorgeous view of the clouds above. There was a small waterfall and lake close by to the right, and directly in front of the castle was an impressive little garden, filled with a colorful variety of flowers and plants.

The young rabbit was amazed by this unexpected sight. Who did this castle belong to? A king? A queen? She couldn’t know for sure, but the healthy status of the garden indicated that someone definitely lived there even in the present time.

“This is so cool! We’ve got to tell the others about this!” Cream bounced up and down giddily. With an approving nod from Cheese, she turned to the opposite direction as she prepared to make her way back to the beach… only to be greeted with a pair of glowing red eyes staring down at her.

“What the-” Cream gasped as she looked up at the rather ominous entity that was towering over her. It didn’t appear to have a fully solid form, as its body was made up of a misty black substance that occasionally gave off a sickly dark green hue. And yet, the girl could recognise prominent reptilian features, most notably a long tongue and a wide row of sharp, saliva-dripped teeth that were currently preparing to take a bite out of her. The top of its vaguely-shaped head appeared to be armored.

Cream slowly stepped back in horror. Even someone her age knew right away that this thing wasn’t going to be friendly. Without thinking, without saying anything, she grabbed Cheese for dear life and ran off into the forest. She didn’t know where she was headed, as the only thing on her mind was to get away from that monster as soon as possible.

Unfortunately for her, the monster was faster than she anticipated, for it didn’t take long for it to block her path with its sizable mass.

Shaken, but unwilling to give up, she made a sharp turn towards an alternate direction, but the monster blocked her path in seconds once again. The third time was no luckier. Neither was the fourth time. Or the fifth time. Or the time after that. No matter how tricky Cream tried to be in her attempts to escape from the beast, it successfully countered and tracked her down each and every time, until at last, an especially large tree blocked the girl’s path. She turned to the beast out of panicked frustration, and her whole body was shaking. She didn’t even bother trying to fly away, as she knew it was too fast for her to escape that way. Contrasting her own fear, she hid Cheese behind her back, defending her beloved friend from its clutches. The monster opened its jaws, ready to make a meal out of the poor girl…

When suddenly, it threw its head back in what could be interpreted as a mix of confusion and anger. It turned its head violently in every direction possible, as if it were looking for something… as if it were _distracted _by something. With a mighty roar, its misty form escaped to the skies above, leaving the forest as quickly as it appeared.

Cream took a few seconds to check her heartbeat as she attempted to calm herself down from what just happened. She didn’t know what that thing was, but she was glad it was gone. After checking that Cheese was safe and sound, she noticed there was a single arrow on the ground near where the monster was. She crouched down to closely examine the arrow, and she couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the elegant patterns that she found on it.

“You okay there?”

Cream jumped a little upon being startled by the voice that was in very close proximity. The voice was unmistakably feminine, yet its pitch was low. She turned her head left only to find nothing, but when she turned to the right, she was greeted with a pair of knee-high boots standing tall, which were completely flat at the heels. She slowly glanced upwards to analyse the rest of the female figure before her, observing such details as brown pants, a thick tail, a light tank top, and a pair of gloves that reached up to the elbows, one of which was holding onto a maroon bow. They were also wearing a backpack containing a number of arrows similar to the one that was currently in Cream’s hand. The figure itself had a mature build, her fur a gentle mint green, and with the exception of her pants, all of her clothes were different shades of blue. Finally, the rabbit looked up at the head, but all she could see were a pair of cool brown eyes, for the rest of the woman’s face was obscured by a bandana from the bottom, and a headscarf from the top. Two arched ears poked out of the headscarf, as did a ponytail as large as her head, its shape being strikingly similar to that of her actual tail.

The young girl wordlessly offered the arrow to the woman, not knowing what else to do. The woman in turn took a hold of it, and placed it back in with the rest of her arrows.

“Sorry you had to bear witness to that repulsive fiend,” the woman said as she held her nose up high as a sign of contempt in reference to the beast, not that you could see it when her bandana was covering it. She then casually glanced at the surrounding trees with her hands on her hips. “I’m afraid we’ve been troubled by this thing for a short while now. Been causing all sorts of strife, so it has.” She paused to flutter a gloved hand in front of her masked face in disgust. “Stinks quite offensively as well, for that matter… Are you alright?”

Though Cream could safely assume this person meant no harm - they just saved her life, after all - she was still a little bit intimidated and anxious. It didn’t take long for the woman to sense this, as she walked closer to the girl and slowly kneeled down to match her height. Upon getting a closer look at the figure’s eyes, Cream could see that there was a faint, light blue tint to her sclera. Yet, they didn’t show any sign of malice. On the contrary in fact, they brought her own mother to mind.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” the older one assured in a comforting tone. She pulled down her bandana to reveal her soft muzzle, which was a rather pale shade of tan. The two slits that formed her nostrils confirmed that she was a horse.

“You’re safe now,” she added as she slowly rubbed Cream’s hand. “You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

“I…” Cream took a moment to gather her thoughts. This little experience was all very sudden for her. “Thank you for saving me, but… I shouldn’t be talking to strangers…”

“I suppose not.” The woman couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the rabbit’s innocence. “But the least I could do is make sure you’re safe around here. Where’s your mother?”

“Oh, I didn’t come here with my mother,” Cream explained. “I came here with my friend, Amy. I told her that I wanted to get familiar with this place, because I’m not used to being this far away without my mother for so long, and…”

She stopped upon making the dreaded realisation that with all the directions she had went to escape the beast, she now had no idea whereabouts in the forest she was.

“Oh no…” she panicked, looking down at the ground worriedly. “I told Amy I wouldn’t get lost here… She’s going to wonder where I went…”

“I can take you back to her if you want,” the horse offered with a soft smile. “I live around here, you know. I know this forest like the back of my hand.”

Cream looked at Cheese, who in turn glanced at the horse, as if he were silently coming to his own conclusion on whether she could be trusted. He nodded, and the girl felt at ease. “Okay… If you’re sure that would be alright, Miss… Miss…”

“Lutrudis,” the woman answered for her. “The name’s Lutrudis.” Still holding her hand, she slowly stood up once more. Cream couldn’t help but notice that she looked somewhat exhausted just by doing this simple motion, but she put it to the back of her mind, figuring it wasn’t a big deal. As they began walking out of the forest together, Cream decided to continue their conversation.

“Miss Lutrudis, can I ask what your surname is?”

“My surname is Hadeer. Why do you ask?”

“It’s so that I can call you Miss Hadeer. I don’t like being rude.”

“Oh, you’re hardly being rude at all,” the horse looked down at her with content amusement. “You don’t need to be so formal with me, Cream. Just Lutrudis will do.”

“Wait a minute… You know who I am?”

“I know who Amy is too,” the horse shrugged. “Why _wouldn’t_ I know who you two are? You don’t go on all those adventures without the rest of the world catching word of them. Especially not when they involve a certain friend of yours called…” She paused deliberately with a knowing smirk as she touched her cheek with her index finger in faux-thought. “…Sonic, I think his name is?”

“Well, Mr. Sonic _is_ pretty famous,” Cream giggled, which was quickly replaced with her excitedly coming up with an idea. “I can’t wait for him to meet you!”

Lutrudis’ smirk slowly faded, and in its place was a look of mild shock, as she gradually realised what she meant. “_…He’s_ here?”

“Yeah! He came here for a vacation! So did Tails!”

“Chao!” Cheese helpfully added.

“I see…” Lutrudis slowly muttered as she mentally processed the realisation. She never thought Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, the saviour of the world a hundred times over, would ever show his face in Viridonia. And yet against all expectations, he apparently has. And now she’s being offered to meet him? _To meet Sonic the Hedgehog?_

“Would you like to see him?” Cream asked politely.

Snapping out of the sudden rush in her mind, Lutrudis looked down at her new friend with an impressive amount of restraint, but with an obvious hint of excitement. “Well… if it would be no inconvenience to him…”

“Not at all! He loves meeting new people!… As long as they’re not _bad_ people, hee hee.” She grabbed Lutrudis’ hand tighter as she prepared to make a dash. “Let’s go find them! I think they’ll like you!”

“Slower, please,” the horse gently requested. She had a look of strain on her face that appeared to be caused by the brief moment of running, but she quickly tried to disguise it so as to not alert her friend. “I know you guys are fast on your feet, but my endurance kind of stinks… It’s not like we’re in a hurry anyway, right?”

“Yes, you’re right. Sorry, Miss Hadee-” The girl was quick to fix her verbal error. “…Sorry, Lutrudis.” She giggled again.

Lutrudis could only smile to herself once again in return.

——

“There you are, Cream! I was starting to wonder where you went.”

“Sorry for worrying you, Amy,” Cream replied. “But I got lost in the forest when this big monster attacked me!”

“Monster…?” Amy inquired out of concern. Wasn’t this supposed to be their vacation destination? Yet they only just arrived, and _already_ there’s a villain running around?

“Yes, it was really scary…” The young rabbit closed her eyes tightly at the memory of the beast. “I don’t think it’s anything that Mr. Sonic faced before either…”

“Well, well! What’s this about me and a monster?” asked Sonic, having finally finished dealing with the crowd of enthusiastic fans along with Tails. He sounded more than just casually curious about the subject.

“The monster who was chasing me in the forest,” Cream explained to him. “It was big, and it was fast, and it had really large teeth! And big red eyes too!”

“There’s a _lot_ of monsters who fit that description…” Sonic lightly snarked to himself, before rubbing the rabbit’s head affectionately. “Don’t worry about it, Cream. We’ll send it packing in no time! Am I right, Tails?”

“Sure,” Tails answered, sighing to himself. “But of course this had to happen when we were _supposed_ to be taking a vacation. We’re never gonna get a break, are we?”

“Aw, c'mon Tails,” Sonic put his arm around the fox. “The sooner we get rid of them, the sooner we can get to that. Nothing we can’t handle, eh?” He gently nudged his friend repeatedly. “Eh? Eh? Eh?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tails smiled as he rolled his eyes light-heartedly at his friend’s eager attitude for adventure. “So uh… who’s the lady with the bow and arrows?”

He gathered everyone’s attention by pointing at Lutrudis, who had been standing there the whole time without saying a word. Her hands were clasped tightly behind her back, and her eyes were pointing to the ground. Her feet were mildly fidgeting.

“That’s Lutrudis Hadeer!” Cream beamed excitedly. “She saved me from the monster!”

“Is that so?” Sonic smiled as he walked over to Lutrudis, stretching his arm out to offer a hand shake. “Pleased to meet ya! I’m Sonic!”

Lutrudis glanced at Sonic’s hand, then looked up at Sonic’s smiling face, then looked back down at his hand again. Her facial expression was calm, but her mind was busy. _Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are here. **Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are here.**_ And now they’re talking to her. _Her._ What was she to say? What was she to _do?_ How could she talk to Sonic the Hedgehog without making a fool of herself…?

“Hi…” Lutrudis muttered shyly, finally breaking her silence. She slowly shook Sonic’s hand. “Please excuse me, I’m a… really big fan of you guys… truly honored to meet you all.”

“You know who we are?” Amy asked.

“Well, you guys save the world all the time, do you not?” Lutrudis shrugged sheepishly, her hands once again clasped behind her back. “Yeah… I know a lot about you lot…”

“Really now…?” Sonic smirked as he rubbed his hands together fiendishly. “How about a little trivia quiz! Where does the Master Emerald dwell?”

“On Angel Island, of course.” Lutrudis waved her right hand at nothing in particular. “Everyone knows that.”

“Alright. And where do, say… the Sol Emeralds stay?”

“In the Sol Dimension, obviously.”

“Not bad, not bad…”

“I’ve got one!” Amy giddily announced. “Where did I first meet my one true love?”

“At Never Lake, on the way to the Little Planet,” Lutrudis answered, not bothering to acknowledge Sonic rolling his eyes at what Amy referred to him as.

“My turn,” Tails grinned. “What colour of Chaos Emerald did I use to power up the Tornado?”

“The red one,” the horse replied, without skipping a beat.

“Nice!” Tails complimented.

“She really knows her stuff!” Cream added.

“Okay, here’s the big one!” Sonic dramatically waved his hands in the air for a few seconds before pointing directly at the mare. “…What’s my weight?”

Lutrudis blinked in response to the unexpectedly personal nature of the question. The lack of an immediate response briefly convinced Sonic that he had her on the ropes, but it didn’t take long for Lutrudis to casually cross her arms, with a smirk of her own. She slowly tilted her head back as she looked at Sonic, still smirking.

“35 kilograms.”

Sonic paused. He stared at her for a few seconds before turning his head to his friends, who were similarly shocked. He turned it back to Lutrudis.

_“…You’re** scary.**”_

“Heh,” the woman politely curtsied. “I guess I won that little questionnaire then?”

“You bet!” Sonic grinned. “Your know-how is awesome!…And slightly terrifying when you really think about it…But awesome!”

“See?” Cream laughed. “I told you they would like you!”

Lutrudis smiled nervously as she kept darting her eyes between Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream. It was still very surreal and nerve-wracking for someone like her to be chatting away with such famous heroes, but if she hadn’t screwed up her introduction just yet, then maybe she didn’t have anything to worry about.

“Oh god, there it is again!” a random cheetah passerby commented out loud in a frightened tone. “Run for your lives!”

As if on cue, the majority of citizens started bolting out of the area in a panicked frenzy. Sonic could only watch in confusion as everyone left the scene, bar his own little group.

“That’s it!” Cream cried with a pointed finger. “That was the monster that chased me!”

Sonic immediately turned his head to look behind himself, and sure enough, the shadowy beast was hovering right there in the plaza. Curiously, it didn’t seem to be doing much damage in the area, nor did it bother going for any of the escaping citizens. But as far as Sonic was concerned, if it’s a monster that needed to be dealt with, then it’s a monster that needed to be dealt with… As long as Amy didn’t get rid of it first.

“Hey, you think you can scare away my friend?” Amy asked angrily as she took out her trusty hammer. “Not on my watch, buddy!”

The demon could only respond by roaring aggressively in Amy’s direction. The pink hedgehog actually had to focus on keeping her footing, lest she fall over from the sheer force of the roar. Frustrated, she opted to just throw her hammer right in the monster’s face, scoring a direct hit. As the beast shook its head in a rage, Amy grabbed Cream and called out to the Blue Blur.

“Sonic! I’ll get Cream out of here before it notices her again!”

“But Amy!” Sonic called out in return. “What about your hammer?”

“It’s okay, I’ve got hundreds of those!” Amy ran off with her rabbit friend. “Give it a good socking for me!”

“I’d give it one regardless…” Sonic muttered to himself resignedly, before turning his attention to Tails. “Think you can handle this, buddy?”

Tails simply nodded as he continued glaring at the beast.

The blue hedgehog then turned to Lutrudis, who was taken aback by having to see the monster again so soon after the previous time. “Hey! Are you good with those arrows of yours?”

“I, uh…” Lutrudis darted her eyes between Sonic and the beast, quite obviously a little distracted by the situation she was suddenly thrown into. “I’m still learning with them, but I’ve landed a hit on it before…”

“Great,” Sonic snapped his fingers. “Help us out if you can, will ya?”

“I’ll… I’ll try.”

“That’s the spirit.” Sonic prepared himself as the monster roared once again in fury. “Alright Mr. Cloudy, show us what you’ve got!”

——

**BOSS: ???**

Yes, like Chaos Zero in Sonic Adventure, we start things off with a boss fight. The plaza near the beach makes up the arena. The ground is completely flat, but that won’t be a problem here. This is basically just an early way of getting the player acquainted with the controls, without needing to bother with all that pesky “tutorial” nonsense.

Anyhow, Mr. Cloudy - presumably _not_ his real name - only has a few attacks to subdue you with. Its favourite attack is spewing a pillar of dark mist from its mouth, as though it were breathing fire. Somewhat cunningly for such an early boss, it likes to aim at you when it does this, but it’s nothing that can’t be foiled with a spin dash if you’re Sonic, or simply flying if you’re Tails. It also likes to summon a shadowy tentacle with a clawed hand at its tip, to which it attempts to swipe you with. Just jump over this, it’s no big deal.

While you’re fighting it, Lutrudis is carefully walking around the perimeter of the arena. Always walking mind you, never running. Don’t worry, she doesn’t need to be protected. What you want to do is attack the monster’s head three times. How you do it or how long it takes you to do it doesn’t matter, hitting it thrice at all is the only required criteria. When this happens, Lutrudis will use the beast’s extreme focus on your character as an opportunity to fire one of her arrows at it. This doesn’t hurt the beast, but it will snarl and turn towards _her_ direction in response. It’s at this point that a peculiar spot on the back of its neck starts glowing wildly. Yes, this is the weakpoint, if you hadn’t guessed before I even started this sentence. Give _that_ a whack, and its health meter will at last go down just a bit.

It doesn’t get any more complicated than this, though it does add one more attack to its arsenal after you’ve damaged it twice, and thus brought it down to half its health. It floats above the arena for a few seconds, before slamming the ground with a mighty crash, creating a dark shockwave in the process. The shockwave’s speed might throw you off guard, but again, nothing to worry about. Just hit it where it counts two more times, and the job is done. Don’t expect future boss encounters to be this easy, _hero._

——

In response to the beating it just received, the beast roared violently yet again, before taking to the skies like it did before. Sonic dusted himself off as he checked to make sure Tails and Lutrudis were okay.

“Yep, that was a bad guy alright,” Sonic commented, glancing up at the sky with a raised eyebrow. “Ran away like a bad guy too. We better track that thing down before it causes more trouble… What even IS that thing anyway? It doesn’t scream ‘local wildlife’ to me…”

“I wish I knew,” Lutrudis replied as she gathered her arrows. “The only thing I DO know is that it’s been here for… about over a week, I believe. I think it’s been getting stronger during that time, but I don’t know for sure…”

“Well, whatever the deal is with it, we’re gonna get it straight outta here,” Sonic cracked his knuckles with confidence. “Right, Tails?”

“Right,” the fox confirmed as he stretched his titular tails as well as his arms.

“I’m so sorry about this,” Lutrudis rubbed the back of her head meekly. “Cream told me you guys came here for vacation’s sake, and now this happens.”

“Why apologise?” Sonic checked carefully for marks on his sneakers, going from one sneaker to the other, then back again. “It’s not like _you_ were the bad guy.”

“Well, no, but…” She sighed. “You shouldn’t need to get involved with this. You guys are always busy as it is…”

“Hey now! That’s the way I like it!” The hedgehog winked with a toothy grin.

“…I’m not entirely opposed to it either,” Tails shrugged half-jokingly.

“Well, if you’re sure…” The horse pointed in the left direction of the plaza. “I think it was headed for that way. That’s where the meadows are. Maybe it has a hideout there…?”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Sonic asked rhetorically as he hit the palm of his hand with his fist. “No use standing around here chatting idly! Let’s go after ‘em!”

“You guys go on ahead,” Lutrudis muttered while she rubbed her arm. She looked notably dejected. “I’ll only slow you two down… literally. I can’t run that fast.”

“Let me help with that,” Tails gladly suggested as he used his twin tails to perform his signature form of flight, before clasping his hands with Lutrudis’ own as he picked her gently off the ground. With Lutrudis in tow, Tails floated not too high above the land as Sonic started jogging below them.

“…You’re not acrophobic, are you?” Tails suddenly asked in a sheepish tone.

“This height is fine,” Lutrudis assured him. “But like I was saying, I can’t run much because… …” She paused before going through with her explanation, and she tilted her head slightly to and fro as if she was mentally arguing with herself. She decided to to change course instead. “Well anyway, why bother taking me with you guys? What good will I do?”

Sonic could only chuckle to himself. “Maybe we just wanna hang out with a friend!”

“…F-Friend…?” Lutrudis seemed genuinely astonished by the hedgehog’s simple statement.

“Yeah! You’re our friend now, right?”

“But… you only just met me…?”

“Hasn’t stopped him before,” Tails smiled knowingly, clearly talking from experience.

“Besides,” Sonic added. “We’ve never been here before! We could use a handy tour guide! AND you did pretty good back there too! So what makes you think you’ll slow us down?”

Lutrudis had nothing to say to that, in part because she was still shocked by the revelation that Sonic the Hedgehog now considered her a friend. She looked down at him, then she glanced up at Tails. She slowly moved her eyes to the side as she let out a bashful smile, and her ears drooped ever so slightly.

As they moved closer and closer towards the meadows in Viridonia, the horse concluded that the next few days were most likely going to be very eventful for her.


	2. Over the Hills and Yonder

** **“Are you sure the thing was heading this way?” Sonic asked, still jogging below the flying Tails with Lutrudis in tow.

“Yes,” Lutrudis replied firmly. “There’s another town not too far from here. It might be preparing to menace THAT one in some way.”

“Is that all it’s been doing?” Tails questioned to himself. “No grander scheme beyond scaring locals?”

“Whatever else there is to its story, it’d be deceitful of me to say I know of it.” The horse looked down at Sonic, and she noticed right away to her own amusement that he was looking around him with a palpable hint of satisfaction.

“So, seeing how this WAS intended to be your vacation destination… what do you guys think of what you see?”

“It’s pretty sweet!” Sonic called up to her with a huge grin. And no one could blame him for being pleased, for the field they were in was truly picturesque in every sense of the word. The rich greenery was complimented by rows upon rows of flowers and tulips, the lakes and rivers were kept in pristine condition, and the leaves of the trees came in a variety of greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and even pinks. And though the sky above was certainly bright and blue, there was a subtle touch of pink up there too.

There were also plenty of hills.

Perfect conditions for a supersonic hedgehog.

“I’m liking it too,” Tails commented happily. “Amy and Cream would _love_ it around here.” His smile was gradually replaced with a frown as he looked back at the direction of the town they were previously in. “I hope they got away safely…”

“I’m sure they did,” Lutrudis assured him, looking up at him with a gentle smile. “I may not… _know_-know your friends, but I know they’re just like you guys. And _you_ guys always manage to take care of yourselves, right?”

“Right!” Sonic’s grin got even wider. “So let’s… get… _started!_” And with that, he couldn’t help himself and went from a light jog to dashing his way across the landscape in seconds. Tails and Lutrudis paused as they both looked down at where Sonic once was.

“Forgive him,” Tails commented resignedly, still looking down. “He does this all the time.”

“I figured as much,” Lutrudis giggled lightly.

——

** Gleaming Meadows Zone **

** _GM Act 1: Blossom Fields_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Motobug **\- “You know these guys, right? These ladybug robots use their mono wheels to run around and… run around. They don’t seem to do much else, though they can bump into you to hurt you. For footsoldiers, they kind of stink…”

**Chopper **\- “Commonly found disturbing the peace in tranquil resorts, these naughty fishies like to hurl themselves out of the water to take a bite out of you. I wonder though, how do they never rust…?”

**Mosqui** \- “Mosquitoes can be quite annoying, but they don’t compare with these metallic parodies. They aim from the skies and stick their pointy honkers in the ground should they miss you, and they look just a little bit silly in the process.”

A new adventure begins for Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles “Tails” Prower. That shadowy beast is hiding somewhere, and our heroes won’t waste any time in hunting it down. But could there be more to this than meets the eye…? Let’s find out.

(Yes. The answer is yes. It’d be extremely anti-climactic if there wasn’t.)

The fields in Viridonia expand across miles, but as mentioned previously, green is not the only colour you’ll be seeing around here, as the flowers and the trees come in a variety of colours, making for a unique atmosphere that isn’t quite your typical Green Hill. As the first true stage, you’ll be expected to get acquainted with the controls, so initially, there’s little in the way in terms of actual obstacles, for the fields are essentially a glorified playground. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your character’s moves, and remember to use the hills to gain momentum. Eventually though, Motobugs will start showing up, much to Sonic’s annoyance.

**Sonic:** Badniks!? Hmph. I can’t do anything without these bolt brains asking for a beating… Well, if it’s a beating they want… heh heh!

Of course, Motobugs can be dealt with as easily as always, so they shouldn’t provide too much of a problem… unless you’re a game journalist, in which case, proceed with caution.

At this point, you may notice that the soil of the cliffs is a bit peculiar, in that some of them have faint white markings on them that appear to be telling a story. It’s unclear as to what kind of story is being told exactly, but a fair number of the markings seem to be drawn in the shape of crystals…

Anyway, not long after the Motobug’s debut is when the chomping Choppers and the pointy Mosqui start joining in. The presence of the Choppers naturally means that there is the occasional lake around here, of which you can go for a swim in should you choose to do so. Luckily for Sonic however, they’re nowhere near large or deep enough to be a cause for concern. They’re only here so that you can get familiar with the swimming controls for Tails, which we’ll elaborate on a little more when it’s more useful and urgent.

Towards the end, urban elements begin to pop up, most prominently a road that takes you inside a cement highway tunnel. Some innocuous vehicles will get in your way on the road, but they’re extremely rare. Once you get out of the tunnel and off the road, a big gap stands in the way between you and the end of the level. Don’t worry, there’s no bottomless pit below, just a river filled with Choppers. Rev up your best spin dash to make an impressive leap across the gap (or just cheat and fly over it if you’re Tails), and jump on the capsule to end the stage as you spot the town in the near background. Good job, _hero._ But it’s only going to get upstairs from here…

——

“This must be the town,” Sonic said to himself as he stopped to examine the suburban area he had arrived in. It was hardly the biggest town he had ever been in - on the contrary, it was smaller than most towns he had been in - but it was certainly fancy for such a tranquil area. White buildings with red roofs were dotted all over, and much of the ground was filled with intricate cobblestone pathways. A small fountain cooled down the sunny heat, and cleared the silence with its light splashing.

Sonic put his hands on his hips as he continued analysing the area. Though it certainly had its own identity, the appearance and atmosphere of the town reminded him strongly of Apotos. He recalled his time there from years ago, back when the world had literally been shattered. Among his other memories there, he remembered the excitable fascination with ice cream and chocolate expressed by his friend, Chip.

He chuckled sadly at the memory. With how much time had passed since then, he couldn’t help but think about that old friend of his…

“HELP! HEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!”

Until the sudden screeching of an oncoming gazelle interrupted his thoughts, that is.

“Well, uh,” Sonic stuttered as he put on a heroic face, his hands still placed on his hips as the woman ran up to him. He ever so slightly puffed his chest. “What seems to be the problem, ma’am?”

“You’re Sonic the Hedgehog, right!?” the lady asked with an extensive amount of anxiousness. She kept glancing to her left and right like she was possessed.

“Yep!” He smiled and winked. “Sure am!”

_“SAVE US!!!!”_

She then ran off in a panicked frenzy, screaming all the way. Sonic maintained his pose and his smile for a good few seconds, as still as a statue.

“…Helpful,” he concluded in an upbeat manner that clashed heavily with his obvious sarcasm.

“I guess something _has_ happened here then?”

Sonic jumped in mild surprise at the voice that came from behind him, and turned around to find Lutrudis right there, along with Tails.

“Yeah,” Sonic confirmed as he put his hand on his chest in response to the unintended jump scare. “But I don’t know what. Probably some Badniks causing havoc.”

“Well, there _were_ a bunch of Badniks back there,” Tails noted with a hint of dread. “Which can only mean one thing…”

Sonic and Tails both exchanged a stern look with each other, as if knowing what the other was going to say. Which was perfectly justified, as the conclusion was fairly obvious to them both…

** _“Eggman.”_ **

Lutrudis could only shake her head in disappointment at the revelation. She knew this was more than likely an inevitable outcome, as a great majority of Sonic’s adventures had been initiated by the mad scientist’s ill-intentioned doings, but it was still uncomfortable to learn that a notorious criminal with a penchant for endangering the planet has made his presence known on her island.

As Sonic and Tails continued discussing the matter with each other, she could only wonder what made someone like Eggman decide to pay her home a visit… She had a few ideas.

——

** _GM Act 2: Swanky Suburbs_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:**  
**Poochy** \- “These metal dogs like to sleep around, but they’ll make a run for you if you’re near them. They’re more of a minor nuisance if anything, honestly…”

**Lawnmauler** -“These sadistic lawnmowers want to cut a lot more than just grass, but they roam around at their own leisure, much like an actual lawnmower when supervised by people who don’t know how to use them.”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Motobug  
Chopper  
Mosqui

The town setting means that you now have more things to play around with. You can run and jump across the rooftops, or you can bounce on the lawn chairs lying around. You can cool yourself off in the swimming pools, or you can walk in completely uninvited to people’s gardens and their kids’ treehouses. You can use the slides and the swings in the park to build up your speed, or you can even enter the little shops and buy a few nifty memorabilia for yourself if you have the right amount of rings for them.

But, uh, Badniks are still invading, so you should probably sort them out too. It’s not fun when there’s a Chopper in your pool. The kids get put off by that.

Of the two new Badniks, the Lawnmaulers are the more annoying of the two. They may not go straight for you like the Poochies do when you wake them up, but they’re faster, and combined with their aimless pattern, they can prove to be surprisingly troublesome for enemies this early on in the adventure. Still, nothing you can’t handle. You’re not going to get upstaged by a sentient lawnmower, are you? That would be a pretty big fall from grace for someone who clashed with the Ultimate Lifeform.

Because you’re in town, you can actually interact with some of the citizens. There’s rarely a justified reason to do this beyond initiating some humorous interactions, but it’s a little bonus for you all the same. One bear local in particular is rather irate about the current situation.

“Unbelievable! I came here to live a life of peace and solitude, and what do I get? Robots messing up my house! One of them even stole my best tie! My BEST tie! I LOVED that tie! I’m moving back to Cosmic City when this is over…!”

Despite everything that’s been said however, you don’t actually have to eliminate all Badniks in the area. While you _do_ get bonus points by going out of your way to stop them from further terrorizing the locals, the required objective is simply getting to the end like always, which is represented by the northest section of the town…

However, when you get there, you’ll make an unexpected discovery: a mid-sized, egg-shaped contraption fitted with long legs that curiously resemble that of a chicken’s. It was going around using its legs to crush innocent houses and dearly beloved cars, but then you turned up, so now it has its attention on _you._ And it looks slightly more important than your typical Badnik, so that means… it’s time for a boss.

**BOSS: Chicken Walker**

Although funnily enough, this guy is actually _more_ simple than the monster from earlier, as its only real attack is using its legs to crush you if you’re near, and cause shockwaves if you’re not. If you’re skilled, you can actually hurt this robot any time you want, but if you’re too… _chicken_, the best time to attack is the moment it lands on the ground, for at that moment, the bending of its legs means that the body is lower to the ground. Give it a whack, rinse, repeat, and it’ll crack wide open soon enough. Very simple. You could probably do it blindfolded.

——

“Thank you so much, Sonic! You’re the best!”

“That was so cool, Tails!”

“I’m gonna upload this so I can show my friends!”

Taking a moment to breathe after having to shake a lot of hands with adoring fans who were thankful for their heroic efforts, Sonic and Tails looked around to make sure there were no more Badniks in sight. They couldn’t see any. They turned to witness Lutrudis comforting a group of children, who seemed surprisingly relaxed and content despite the attack that just happened. As the children ran off in different directions, Lutrudis walked back to the hedgehog and fox.

“I kept them company while you two were doing your thing,” Lutrudis said as she looked back at them playing around. “Couldn’t bare to see them scared out of their wits.”

Sonic couldn’t help but smile at this.

“So Dr. Eggman really is here, then…” Lutrudis gravely acknowledged.

“Guess so,” Tails shrugged.

“I don’t suppose you know just as much about HIM as you proved to know about us?” Sonic jokingly asked as they started walking across the rest of town.

“Well, someone with his narcissism makes himself known as it is, doesn’t he?” The horse lightly adjusted the elbow of her glove as she gave her summation of the doctor. “Captures animals to power his machines, makes despicable weapons with malicious intent, frequently misuses powerful relics, threatens the world and its inhabitants just to make a grab for what he feels he’s entitled to… and his personality stinks like trash on top of that.”

“Sounds like someone is rather contemptuous of him,” Sonic snarked with amusement.

“Quite so,” Lutrudis reaffirmed. She looked down at the ground. “I know it probably sounds silly to you, since you always beat him and so… but he’s still dangerous, isn’t he? Even if he’s a bit of a clown, he’s done a lot of really twisted things. I just can’t help but feel strongly about that, and I fear what he’s going to do in Viridonia…”

“Hey,” Sonic smiled as he put an arm around Lutrudis, which visibly caught the green horse by surprise. “He won’t win. He’s not gonna take over your home. We’ll get him out of here in no time, Lootrudis.”

A brief period of silence suddenly interrupted the conversation. It was a slightly painful silence.

“…It’s _Luh-_tru-dis,” she corrected.

“Oh, right, my bad,” Sonic raised his hands in the air. There was a minor shade of blush on his cheeks, no doubt caused by the embarrassment of the error. Lutrudis didn’t seem to mind too much though, fortunately for him.

“So where_ is_ Eggman?” Tails asked the two of them. “I haven’t seen him anywhere here.”

“He can’t be too far away,” Sonic mused, placing a fist in the palm of his other hand. “You know how it goes, Tails. If there’s robots around, the doc is always near.”

“Good point, but what would he be here for? Do you think he has a base nearby?”

The two heroes stopped to ponder about the doctor’s whereabouts, but as they were doing so, Lutrudis seemed to be thinking of something herself, as evidenced by the squint in her eyes and the rubbing of her chin. Sure enough, something popped up in her mind.

“Now that I think about it,” she began with a raised finger. “There happens to be an old mill around here. It’s remained disused for heaven knows how long, but maybe Eggman could have found a use for it…?”

Sonic immediately nodded. “You know what? You’re probably right. A nut like him _would_ hide in a place like that… Guess we better find it, eh?”

With no additional words, Sonic and Tails ran off to the hills beyond. Lutrudis, visibly dejected by accidentally being left behind, began to jog after them. Her jogging was curiously stilted, as if she was trying not to go beyond a certain level of speed. As she was doing this, a walrus citizen who was holding a bunch of broken Motobug parts called out to her.

“Hey! Can you help us clean the town up? These robot parts are everywhere!”

Lutrudis looked at the man with concern, clearly apologetic for not being in a position to fulfill his request. “I’m really sorry, but something urgent is up! We’ll help you out when we get back, I promise!”

As she continued to run off, the walrus could only throw his hands in the air… and accidentally drop the Motobug’s head on his own foot in the process. It was rather sore for him.

——

** _GM Act 3: Yellow Hills_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Cluckoid** \- “These blowhards are too chicken to attack you. Instead, they charge up a gust of wind to blow you away… usually into other dangers from nearby.”

**Tomafoe** \- “Bouncing tomatoes? Good grief… They don’t stop bouncing either, lest you put a stop to them.”

**Carruffian** \- “These carrots sure are ruffians alright. They’re a bit stuck in the mud, but they’ll launch themselves out and try to pounce on you. You don’t need to eat your vegetables to see THEM in the dark.”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Motobug

You’re a little more by the countryside now, meaning the green grass you were once accustomed to has now been replaced with a shade of yellow. The riverbanks - commonly used for fishing - are as ripply as ever, but now they’re teeming with cabins, trailers, old bridges, and a quiet rural village… Or at least, it _would_ be quiet if it weren’t for those meddling robots.

Initially, your journey is largely uneventful, so aside from dealing with the occasional Motobug and Cluckoid, you can enjoy the country scenery as much as you like. But soon enough, you’ll begin to reach the farmlands within the prairie, and that’s when things get a little more wild.

The owners of these farms must be sleeping on the job, because they don’t seem to have noticed that robot carrots and robot tomatoes have invaded their crops. As the more sneaky of the two, Caruffians will prove to be more annoying. But you’ll also have to avoid getting stuck in mud, as well as avoid the frantic charging of frightened cows, pigs and sheep, who clearly HAVE noticed the robots and are understandably not pleased about their presence.

Speaking of presence, Sonic can’t help but point out the presence of a horse stable…

**Sonic: **Hey, look! It’s your home!

**Lutrudis:** Oh, _hardy har har._

The end of the level comes in the form of you running straight through a large barn. As you’d expect, it’s _packed_ with animals, so you’ll have to maneuver a bit to get through them… if you were a regular person. But you’re the fastest thing alive (or his little bro), so you can simply jump over or spin dash through them. If you decide to do the latter, you’ll send the animals flying across the room like they’re ragdolls, but they won’t get hurt… too much. Lutrudis will still dryly ask if that was necessary, though.

As you open the capsule to complete this stage, you can see a tall wooden mill in the distance. It looks to be abandoned, and it doesn’t look all that inviting… But there’s unlikely to be _another_ mill around here, so this must be the one.

——

** _GM Act 4: Rusty Mill_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Bat Brain** \- “These bats have made a nice little home for themselves in this mill… and I use the term ‘nice’ loosely. They hang from the ceiling until you come close, at which point they’ll fly down to attack.”

**Workman Pawn** \- “Carrying a big ol’ sledgehammer with them at all times, these orange Pawns waste no time in using them against you. But what’s the point in them wearing safety helmets if they’re already made of metal…?”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Motobug  
Cluckoid

No cutscene this time I’m afraid, we go straight to the next act. You have arrived at this rather imposing mill, and it certainly fits the description of disuse. From the moment you enter it, you can see that it’s full of dust and cobwebs, much of the paint has long deteriorated, and even the wood itself has largely decayed. Could Eggman - or indeed, that mysterious monster - _really_ be here?

Apparently so, because it doesn’t take long for a bunch of Workman Pawns to alert themselves of your presence, and they react accordingly. They can either smash their sledgehammers straight down, or they can swing them around. You can tell which one it’ll be if you pay attention to what they do with their hammer right before attacking: If they juggle it, they’ll smash it. If they twirl it, they’ll spin it. These guys are essentially an early warning that enemies will get more tricky the further you progress in your adventure, so make sure to learn that lesson as soon as possible… or you’ll regret it later on.

As for the mill itself, there’ll be a fair bit of vertical platforming here, so use the cobwebs to your advantage by bouncing off of them, but be sure to watch out for flying Bat Brains while you’re doing so. Some of the Pawns can be crafty and use their hammers on the wooden structures in an attempt to flatten you, so be wary of that too, and Cluckoids tend to be placed in areas right above the vertical sections, so get rid of them before you get acquainted with a specific form of frustration.

By the time you reach the top, you’ll find a single Egg Pawn in the middle of the room. ItJUST turned off a communication device before you walked in. It must have received a message from Eggman, but for what reason…? Upon noticing you, the Pawn will let out a maniacal giggle… and casually light a match…

**Sonic:** …!!!…

No matter how quickly you attack the Pawn, he’ll successfully throw the match at the wall, which naturally causes a chain reaction that results in _the entire mill getting set on fire. _Sonic is naturally reminded of his first time on Angel Island, but this thought is quickly replaced by the more important matter of getting out of there.

The rest of the level is considerably more hectic as a result, because there are a lot more obstacles now, such as the spots of fire on the floor, and the burning piles of wood that like to fall upon you… There’s no time limit though. You can stand there inhaling smoke for ages and the mill will still be standing despite burning up, because video games aren’t known for sticking to realism when it inconveniences them.

As you begin to reach the exit of the mill, you might think this trip was a waste of time, as neither Eggman or the monster were found inside the mill. That may be so… however, as if sensing that feeling of no resolution, a trio of Pawns suddenly barge through a wall in a giant bulldozer. The bulldozer appears to be highly modified, as regular bulldozers are not known for storing missiles and bombs. It also looks big enough to do some major damage to a town… like the town we were in two levels ago…

You better put this thing down before that happens.

**BOSS: The Paindozer**

Going in like a screaming warrior won’t work here, because the blade on the front simply shunts you away when you try to attack it. Even if you try to attack the top of the vehicle, or fly to it with Tails, the blade will simply rise high enough to block that as well. Therefore, you’ll be running away and dodging a lot of the time. Merely touching the blade doesn’t hurt you, but you won’t want to be near it anyway, because it likes to use its extended claw to crush you if you’re close. Otherwise, it’s content with firing missiles at your anthropomorphic self.

How do you attack it? Well, Lutrudis will be helping you out again. She’ll be firing arrows in strategic points of the Paindozer in the hopes of jamming its functions. A lot of her arrows will comically miss or bounce off - likely because being in such an intense situation is throwing her off, considering she’s not a seasoned thrill seeker like you are - but occasionally, one of her arrows _will_ land a hit and successfully jam it. Having a degree of awareness, the Pawns will immediately try reversing the vehicle away from you afterwards, but you can catch up to it easily. The Pawns themselves are the targets you want to hit, so land a hit on one of them.

Every two hits gets rid of one Pawn, and the Paindozer’s aggression will ramp up every time this happens. When you get rid of the first Pawn, it’ll start making use of its bombs, which unleash a pillar of flame upon detonation. When you eliminate the second Pawn, it’ll gain the habit of slowly reversing back… before immediately charging at you head-on, intending to use the blade to crush you against the wall. It’s startlingly fast for such a huge vehicle, but you can dodge it if you keep a cool head. Once the final Pawn is knocked off his seat and destroyed, the Paindozer_ itself_ has a tantrum and starts going bonkers. At this point, it doesn’t bother with the missiles or the bombs. It just charges at you again and again.

Unfortunately for the Paindozer, its overly aggressive colliding with the walls is actually causing dents that weaken the blade. Keep hitting those dents, and the entire blade will eventually fall off, revealing a suspicious weakpoint-looking core on the front of the vehicle. The Paindozer will start reversing again when this happens, this time as fast as it possibly can, but clearly it underestimates who you are. Hunt it down and give it one last hit, and the Paindozer will finally doze off for good.

Like the Pawns in this very level, this boss is an early wake up call regarding the challenge that later bosses will pose. Keep that in mind, or you won’t be prepared for what’s in store. But for now, congratulations on your victory.

——

Sonic, Tails and Lutrudis were lucky to get out of the mill mere seconds before it collapsed onto itself. The three of them hid behind a bush to look back at where the mill once stood. Once the dust had settled, in its place was a large mound of burnt wood.

“Boy, talk about cutting it close,” Tails commented, his eyes still glancing at the mound of wood.

“Eh, not really,” Sonic smirked, before turning to Lutrudis. “You okay from all that?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Lutrudis gave a small thumbs up to him, although she looked as though she had the wind knocked out of her. “Just a simple near-death experience, nothing I’ll lose sleep over.”

Sonic laughed merrily at her unexpectedly morbid comment. By contrast, Tails had a look of concern on his face.

“So what was the point of them roaming around in there?” Lutrudis pondered, with her fingers tapping on her cheek. “To construct a giant bulldozer that would destroy the town?”

“Looks like it. But… that doesn’t really seem like Eggman though,” Tails pointed out as he rubbed his chin. “It seems a little too… small-time for him? Sure, destroying a town with a bulldozer is bad, but Eggman usually thinks bigger than that. I mean, he once stole a bunch of planets to use for his theme park. After all the things he’s done, I can’t see him settling for this course of action.”

“Unless it’s part of something greater…” Sonic mused with crossed arms. He stood up with a frown. “Let’s not forget, we haven’t seen that weird monster around here at all, and I’m willing to bet that Eggman’s the one pulling its leash. We gotta get to the bottom of this, and fast.”

“Right,” Tails agreed, as he too stood up. Lutrudis followed suit, but she took her time doing so. Her face was strained, as if to say that the surely simple process of going from a kneeling position to a standing position was somehow causing her physical pain. The other two noticed this right away.

“Something wrong…?” Sonic asked out of concern, and also out of confusion.

“It’s fine… it’s fine…” Lutrudis assured in a strained voice, waving a hand to dismiss herself. “I’m fine… Nothing for you to worry about.”

“…If you say so…” the hedgehog muttered, in a tone that indicated he wasn’t even remotely convinced. He decided to drop the subject nevertheless. “C’mon Lootrudis, let’s get out of here-”

He paused immediately as he realised his failure to pronounce his new friend’s name _again._ He slowly turned to Lutrudis with his hands behind his back, an extremely sheepish grin having planted itself on the hedgehog’s face.

“…Would you mind if I just called you Trudy?”

“Can you seriously not just _try _to say her name correctly?” Tails looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “It’s not _that_ hard to pronounce.”

“It’s okay, Tails,” Lutrudis chuckled. She looked at Sonic with a warm smile. “Trudy is fine. Got a nice ring to it, I might say. It’s flattering.”

“Great,” Sonic smiled warmly in turn. “Now let’s start heading back, Trudy!”

With that, Sonic dashed off once again, Tails using his namesake to follow him close behind. Lutrudis simply stood there for a few seconds as she thought about Sonic’s new nickname for her. Evidently, she wasn’t used to having a nickname.

“Trudy… heh…”

With a smile, she jogged after them in her uniquely stilted way. Had she stayed in place for a moment longer however, she might have heard something coming from the mill’s remains…

_“You there? You there, robots? No…? Bah…That lousy hedgehog must have wrecked them.”  
_

_“Maybe you should have supervised them in person, doctor.”  
_

_“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Orbot.”_

_“Would you like MY opinion, doc?”_

_“Never in a million years, Cubot. Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. Sonic may have messed things up for them, but he won’t get far this time around… Not when he sees what I have planned for him…”  
_

_“With respect sir, don’t you say that every time you come up with a plan?”  
_

_“Do you WANT me to turn you into a pencil sharpener?”  
_

_“N-No, sir…”  
_

_“Good! So, **as I was saying**, this is hardly a setback. There are plenty more cards on my deck, and not even HE will see it coming. Ho ho ho ho… I can’t **wait** to see the look on his face when… … …Cubot, is that device still on…?”  
_

_“Uh… yeah?”  
_

_“TURN IT OFF! Someone could be listening in! Jeez…”_


	3. The Mark of the Wilderness

“Those robot parts were _everywhere,_” Tails thought out loud in reference to the mess they cleaned up in the town by the meadows. “I think that was more time consuming than SAVING the place.”

“No kidding,” Sonic agreed. “Couldn’t you have _told_ us that we’d have to clean them up on the way back?” He lightly nudged Lutrudis jokingly.

“Heh heh, sorry,” the horse replied with a guilty shrug. “But I did promise them… Wouldn’t have been fair for those poor townsfolk to tidy up their area all by themselves.”

“True. Now then… where to next?”

They were now back in Lime Shores, the town that the hedgehog and fox duo arrived in when they introduced themselves to Viridonia. The waves and the buildings shined just as bright as when they saw them the first time around, but gorgeous as they were, the sights were not on the heroes’ minds. The ominous creature that attacked them here had yet to be found, and at the moment, they had no clues as to where else it could possibly be hiding.

“So, uh, Trudy,” Sonic began to ask as he looked around aimlessly, having made sure to stick with his nickname for her rather than make another failed attempt to pronounce her real name. “What’s the nearest region from this point that we haven’t visited yet?”

“Oh, well…” Lutrudis had to pause for a moment as she was put on the spot, but it didn’t last for long. “There’s a jungle near the east side of the town, if that means anything to you. You don’t suppose it could be there, do you…? We don’t have any evidence for that…”

“No, but if Ol’ Egghead’s around here, he’s probably making a mess there too. He NEVER leaves a spot undisturbed.”

“It’s also a safe bet that there’s a link between him and the monster,” Tails added. “He’s commanded OTHER monsters, after all, and his presence in Viridonia sure is conveniently timed with _its_ appearance. So even if we don’t find it in person, we could find out more about what’s going on at least.”

“Well, it’s not like we have other leads for the time being…” Lutrudis scratched the side of her face as she exchanged an unsure glance with Sonic to her left, and Tails to her right. “To the jungle it is, then?”

“Right away!” As expected of him, Sonic wasted no time in curling into a ball and rolling out of view in seconds. The seasoned and trained Tails was able to keep up with him easily, but Lutrudis…

“Oh dear, please wait up…!” She asked desperately as she tried in vain to keep up, being extremely careful not to overexert herself. “Not everyone is as fast as you, you know!”

“Actually,” Sonic began, having slowed down his speed a little so that Lutrudis could hear him. “Tails can catch up with me, he’s doing it right now! So can Amy! Then there’s Shadow… and there’s Blaze… even KNUCKLES can be pretty fast when he puts his mind into it!”

“………Not **_everyone_** is as fast as you, you know!” Lutrudis repeated with extra emphasis, while sounding even more desperate than the previous instance.

——

** Tricky Tropics Zone **

** _TT Act 1: Luscious Jungle_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Buzz Bomber** \- “Everyone knows these buzzing pests. They fly around minding their own business, but if you’re nearby, they’ll shoot pellets at you. Curiously, they have the same face as Motobug… Perhaps they’re made on the cheap?”

**Coconuts** \- “These cheeky monkeys will throw bombs at you from the safety of their trees, but some of them are bold enough to toss them them at you from the ground. Their bombs are even designed like coconuts! Gotta give points to them for keeping it thematically appropriate, I guess.”

**Bloominator** \- “Don’t go admiring this flower! Behind those petals lies a seemingly endless supply of spiked projectiles, which it’ll be all too happy to launch at you should you go near it.”

**Mushmeanie **\- “They pose as mushrooms… and then they don’t once their casings are whacked off. They bounce along the ground aside from that, though I must say, they’re rather cute for killer robots…”

**Rhinotank** \- “It would seem that this design incorporates visual elements from both the Rhinotank and its older model, the Rhinobot, making for a very sleek yet dangerous result… Either way though, it still charges at you should you pop up in its sight.”

**Teething Tiki **\- “Have the idols of the jungle come to life!? …No, they’re just knockoffs made by the doctor. They’re quick to grab you in the hopes of taking a chomp out of you, which isn’t very idol-like if you ask me.”

You’re getting into the adventuring spirit now, but things will be a little trickier around here compared to your time in the meadows. (Even the name gives that away.) The jungles are teeming with all sorts of natural traps, and that’s _without_ throwing in Eggman’s environmentally unfriendly band of mooks. But you heroes have been through plenty of jungles before, so this will be a breeze… right?

The greenery surrounding the environment is very rich in tone, as are the vivid colours of the flowers, but those are not the only things you’ll be seeing here. Like Frog Forest before it, Luscious Jungle is named after its vast array of succulent, yet unnaturally-sized fruit, many of which can be used to assist you in your journey. You can use apples as stepping stones on the water, bananas can be used in place of ramps, grapes can be bounced upon to reach extra heights… And if you’re feeling _really_ daring, you can even roll the giant oranges and lemons into unsuspecting Badniks. There’s plenty of fruit to experiment with, so don’t be afraid to do just that, even if it’s purely for the sake of your own amusement.

**Sonic:** Sorry Tails, I have to say it… _orange_ you glad there’s so many of them?

**Tails:** …Couldn’t resist, could you?

**Sonic:** Nope!

**Lutrudis:** Sounds like someone’s being a bit of a sour _grape._

**Tails:** Aw, not you too!

**Lutrudis:** *giggle*

But what’s a jungle without its animal inhabitants? That’s right, you’ll get to encounter the exotic wildlife around here too. Some of them, like oncoming zebra herds and aggressive tigers, only serve to hinder you. Others can benefit you instead, like the elephants who are all too happy to launch you out of their trunks (hedgehog quills cause no pain for them, apparently), and the birds who occasionally drop handy item boxes… Just don’t get mixed up with the actual wildlife and Eggman’s wildlife. Regular monkeys aren’t known for having bombs on their person.

Though the area is largely dense, there are occasional segments from outside the immediate jungle area that lead into sprawling savannah landscapes. The glow of the mighty sunlight makes them an impressive sight to see, but be warned, for the Teething Tiki robots can often be found lurking in these exact areas. Luckily though, if you can’t be bothered confronting them, you can climb up the necks of the giraffes to lose track of them, as well as treat yourself to an awesome view.

Once you find the end capsule, you may notice there’s a blocky pyramid structure towering over the trees. You can’t see all of it, but it would be remiss of you to _not_ investigate it…

——

“And just through here, you’ll find… this!” Lutrudis moved a large bush out of the way so that Sonic and Tails could see what she was referring to. As it turns out, she was referring to a village with a distinctly primitive quality. Wooden huts and stone pyramids were dotted across the land, in league with imposing idol monuments, and passageways made of temple structures. The sunlight had simmered down ever so slightly, but its shine was still palpable, and the wooded barriers surrounding the village had various colours of the rainbow painted on them. The colours still popped even after the years of decay and rust.

“Quite a sight, huh?” The horse turned to the two guys, but she noticed they had a peculiar look of thought on their faces, as if they were looking at something else entirely.

“It’s kind of like… like that city I was sent to during Chaos’ rampage, in the past… Wow…” Needless to say, Tails was very amazed by what he saw. “I know it’s different, but it looks _so much_ like that city…”

“Wait, that happened to you too!?” Sonic asked his buddy out of equal amazement. “I was sent to the past during that time too! Yeah, I totally get you, Tails. This looks a LOT like that place…”

Lutrudis took a moment to analyse their mutual sense of wonder with crossed arms, before glancing back at the village herself with a neutral emotion.

“I’ve never time travelled, so I can’t comment.”

Tails examined the village further, in an effort to spot for citizens. “So would we be unwelcomed here, or…?”

“Well, no one’s actually lived here for a long time,” Lutrudis casually explained, all the while fiddling a little with the tip of her ponytail. “Certainly never seen a thriving community in this part since I was a kid.”

“So we SHOULD be fine if we run around in it?”

“As long as you don’t break any priceless artifacts and disgrace the work of whosoever lived here in ye olden days, then yes, I would say so.”

“Pfft, please. You think I can’t control my speed?” Sonic chuckled as he started running ahead to the village.

“I would say your _turning_ is a bigger point of concern,” Lutrudis lightly snarked back as she followed him. Tails followed suit, and as he did so, he smiled to himself, as he continued to witness how quickly his new friend was getting used to the company of his oldest.

Little did any of them know however, that a camera was spying on them from the skies, held by the hands of a familiar blue droid with shifty eyes. Though it made no sound, the siren on his head glowed bright red in accordance with his sinister intentions. Using his jetpack, the round robot flew away from the scene in a hurry, satisfied with his footage.

——

** _TT Act 2: Temple Village_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
****Jag-Off** \- “Such a ferocious beast! These jaguar bots are quick to pounce on you at a moment’s notice. They can be pretty fast… but not as fast as a blue hedgehog, right?”

**Mayan Pawn** \- “Dressed in the style of ancient warriors, these dark blue Pawns will attempt to shiv you with their spears if you’re close, or they’ll resort to their blowguns if you’re at a distance. The doctor sure likes his stereotypes, huh…”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Buzz Bomber  
Coconuts  
Rhinotank  
Teething Tiki

Far from the first time you’ve been in an environment like this, but at least you weren’t warped to the past this time around. In this stage, you’ll get to explore all the ins, the outs, and the arounds of this ancient village, and suffice to say, it’s a pretty big village at that. And don’t worry, despite their intimidating stature, the idols won’t come to life, although the Teething Tikis are still around, so be vigilant.

There are no natives living among here anymore, but there are a few explorers for you to talk to if you want to, as evidenced by the little camp site they’ve set up in the area. Some of the explorers have a few interesting things to say…

“It’s said that this was once a populated city, but one day, everyone just vanished off the map! What do you think could have caused that? Did they bring a cruel fate upon themselves, like the ancient echidnas? Or was it something else… something _more…_?”

“It’s funny… This place looks ancient and all, but something about it feels very… NOT that ancient, if you know what I mean? …Not even I’m completely sure on what I mean, though…”

Others have less than insightful things to say…

“Wow, are you really Sonic the Hedgehog!? I’m honored to meet you!… Now get out of the way. I can’t take the perfect shot of these pyramids while you’re mugging the camera.”

The majority of the village is on the outside, so the instances where you go inside the temples don’t last for long. That doesn’t mean they’re uneventful though: You can expect to find a healthy number of traps waiting for anyone foolish enough to enter, such as the spears that shoot from the walls, and the weak segments of ground that give way to a ghastly bed of spikes. It’s not all that pleasant, but you’ll live. (Unless you die, of course.)

The newcomer enemies are at their most prominent in the interior sections of the temples. Jag-Offs can almost jump scare you with how quick they can pounce, but they’re nothing too unbearable aside from that. The Mayan Pawns aren’t as fast, but they _are_ more annoying, particularly when they use their blowguns.

It’s not just the temples you can explore, however. Some of the biggest and reddest trees have walkways built around them, and several tunnels have been made from within them. Have fun with scaling and shooting through the pine, but don’t get too careless, for Buzz Bombers love to hang around these sections.

When you finally reach the last bunch of temples in the area, it will turn out that I wasn’t being fully honest with you, for a particularly demonic-looking idol DOES come to life, which takes your character by surprise. Tails’ shocked reaction in particular is priceless.

**Tails:** AIEEEEEE!

After it takes a moment to growl menacingly at you, it then ascends higher in the air… revealing a serpent-esque body made of black stone, with red and orange markings for good measure. It also reveals two arms, each with the same colour scheme. While the explorers understandably run for dear life, _you_ are made from a braver substance, meaning you’ll have to be the one who actually fights this thing. Unlucky!

**BOSS: Idolossus**

Right off the bat, it’ll summon four Teething Tikis. You don’t need to destroy them, but you might as well before they get in your way. The Idolossus itself is fond of using its strong arms to pummel you in all kinds of ways, most notably by slamming its hand at where you’re positioned, and sweeping an arm either clockwise or counter-clockwise along the ground.

What do you do? Well, the battlefield here consists of _all_ the area that you’re currently in, so make use of that to get a fair distance away from it. It can still make a grab for you though, for its arms can extend their length to a certain point. Notice how some of the walls have large holes in them? What you want to do is position yourself in front of one of those holes, so that when it launches its arm and hopefully misses you, it’ll get stuck. It’s a rather tragic yet comedic sight, but you can’t think about that for too long, as it’ll eventually get its arm free if you don’t react fast enough. Quickly jump on the arm, spin dash all the way to the body, and land a hit on its eye. It’ll howl in pain while you fall back down to the ground,

It only takes three hits in total, but don’t assume that’ll make things easy. With each hit, it summons a greater amount of Teething Tikis, and more worryingly, it grows two more arms with each hit, culminating in a total of six arms. It also starts throwing in a few fire-based attacks for good measure, such as spitting out fireballs and leaving a temporary trail of flame wherever it sweeps the ground. You’ll also need to use a different wall with a hole in it for each hit, since the ones you already made use of get completely destroyed afterwards.

Spin dashing along the arm will be made tougher each time, since its extra arms will attempt to hinder you even while you’re trying to reach the body. But you can manage. Three hits in, and the Idolossus will let out one last howl before crumbling to the ground in pieces, revealing circuitry within its stone exterior. Not that there was any doubt beforehand that Eggman made this idol, but it’s nice to know for sure nonetheless.

——

“Personally, I thought this one looked ugly anyway,” Sonic commented upon looking around at the debris of the idol they had faced with his hands on his hips. He shook his head disapprovingly. “Seriously, black and red? Sticks out like a sore thumb. Not that that’s unusual for Eggman’s junk…”

“What was it doing here, though?” Tails asked as he scratched his head. “It’s a little weird for an Eggman robot to just hang around here and do nothing until we showed up… Maybe it was guarding something?”

“You might be onto something there, Tails,” Lutrudis grimly noted as she pointed in the direction of a few bushes and trees, which appeared to be emitting a strange purple mist. The three of them exchanged looks with each other, and with varying levels of dread, they slowly walked towards where the mist was radiating from. Sonic, the one in front, quickly brushed many bushes aside, his two associates close behind. The thick vegetation proved troublesome to traverse, but they marched on regardless, until at last, Sonic found the very definite source for the mist. Namely, a river filled with a substance that he had seen before…

“Mega Mack!” Sonic exclaimed.

“Mega Mack?” Tails asked with shock as he got to see it for himself.

“Mega Mack!”

“Mega Mack?” Lutrudis questioned in turn as she saw it too. She only had to glance at the area a grand total of once before she immediately covered up her face with her bandana. “Goodness gracious, that stuff _stinks._”

“Yeah. Mega Mack. That freaky gunk that Eggman loves so much.”

Sonic frowned as he looked at the rest of the scene. In spite of the chemical’s effects, the rest of the environment remained fairly pleasant. The plant life and moss took on a much darker green than it did in the immediate jungle region, and the flowers came in stunning shades of white and light blue. A pale white shine engulfed the area, creating a sight that stood in stark contrast with the purple pollutant.

The hero’s firm expression grew tighter, as it only reminded him of what Eggman was doing to the place. He never understood the scientist’s habit of turning everything he could find into glamorized environmental hazards… nor did he care to know, as Eggman was infamous for his general callousness anyway. All he knew was that the river would only get worse if he didn’t put a stop to it.

“It won’t be pleasant,” he turned to Tails. “But we’ll have to follow the river if we want to find the source of this gunk.”

“There are worse experiences,” Tails shrugged, in a tone that implied he was thinking of something in particular when he spoke.

“If that’s what it takes…” Lutrudis added, her bandana still covering her face tightly. “This is still part of my home. I can’t just stand here and let the doctor get away with this disgrace, can I? The sooner we find the source, the sooner we can make this place less inhospitable… and less stinky.”

——

** _TT Act 3: Gloomy Bog_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
****Venus Dire Trap** \- “Self-explanatory, really. When they spot it, they’ll make a swift lunge for their prey… which, according to their programming, is you. Pretty grim…”**  
**

**Returning Enemies:**  
Buzz Bomber  
Bloominator

Don’t let the unflattering name fool you, this swamp actually looks pretty nice in spite of its current situation (and, you know, being a swamp). It’s only really gloomy because it’s in the process of being corrupted by Eggman’s influence. The Mega Mack is not fatal - you can take a dip in it with no trouble (although why you would _want_ to do that is anyone’s guess) - but like with regular water, you can drown in it if you’re under there for too long. If you’d rather not dive in the Mega Mack and risk getting a disease, there are wooden walkways and loops that you can run across.

You can also use the vines to catapult yourself across different angles, which can be exploited if you’re a cunning sort of player. On the other hand, the biggest obstacle around here are the mud pits. They’re not fatal either, but the longer you’re stuck in them, the slower you can move… which can prove to be a disastrous consequence if there’s a Badnik nearby.

Speaking of Badniks, the Venus Dire Traps are very fast for a second zone enemy. They’re not impossible to counter, but you really have to stay on guard with them, or else you’ll be turned into prey in seconds. The Buzz Bombers also like to fly above areas with mud pits, and the Bloominators are rather annoyingly placed in the middle of the walkways a lot of the time.

And by the way? Don’t think going through the whole stage under the Mega Mack will grant you an easy victory. Aside from the usual worry of drowning, Eggman was crafty enough to leave a few Venus Dire Traps _under_ the Mega Mack as well… and since your reaction time is ever so slightly slower when underwater, dealing with THEM while underwater is a lot harder. Although you _will_ be rewarded with handy items if you get past all the danger, so it’s your choice…

When you reach the capsule, you’ll spot what appears to be the source of the Mega Mack: a giant, mechanical bee hive compound. Buzz Bombers are rapidly flying out of it, and Mega Mack is callously spewing from different angles within the holes located on the structure. You better shut this thing down, eh?

——

** _TT Act 4: Hornet’s Nest_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Hive Bomber** \- “Inside the big hive lies… miniature hives! Should you be careless enough to touch it, it’ll release a group of bite-sized Buzz Bombers for you to deal with. As if there weren’t enough of these fiends around here already, sheesh…”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Buzz Bomber  
Bloominator  
Venus Dire Trap

Another immediate jump to the next act. This stage takes place both outside and inside the robotic hive, as it’s been fortified in the event that you turned up to try and wreck the place. On the outside, you’ll have to deal with more Venus Dire Traps and Bloominators, as well as the natural hazards of the marshy environment. You may be reminded of the Great Megalith in fact, as the fortifications around the exterior are quite fancy, complete with lamps hanging on the ceilings, and on the walls.

The interior of the hive, however, is a different story. Fittingly enough, you’re gonna have to deal with a lot of Buzz Bombers in here, as well as their junior counterparts hiding away in their own little hives. Being the progenitor of the Mega Mack, there’ll be rivers of that here and there too, but since they’re rushing very rapidly here, you’ll get sent along its course if you accidentally go for a swim in it, Don’t worry though, this won’t count as a death. Usually it’ll just take you to an earlier point in the level, so it’s still annoying, but not an instant kill.

Naturally, there’s a bunch of honey-related gimmicks and obstacles in the hive as well. Honey on the walls can be used for wall jumping purposes, and honey slides can be used to gain a ton of momentum for the giddy players who like to just go fast. If you’re going _up_ a slide, you can jump along the platforms that are conveniently provided for you.

The stage is honestly pretty straightforward for the most part, with no big surprises… until the end. You will eventually reach a tunnel, and it seems you’re in the clear, since there are no enemies or obstacles to be found. But your character is running _towards_ the camera… You know what that means…

Right on cue, a truly massive Buzz Bomber emerges from the ground, and it wastes no time in chasing you down, presumably for all those years of destroying its smaller offspring. It won’t do anything other than chase you, but it’s pretty speedy, so don’t get cocky. Remember, there is honey everywhere in this tunnel, so on the occasion that it makes a faster charge towards where you’re running, you can avoid it by simply running along the other edges of the tunnel.

After a while, the tunnel will cease, and you and your chaser will reach an interesting room with a flower-shaped device in the center of it… which also happens to have five rivers of Mega Mack emerging from it. Now that you’re not being chased, you can have a better look at this Buzz Bomber. Longer wings, brighter stripes, notable spikes on its tail, a tiara-esque shape on its head… yes, this must be the queen. Time for some regicide.

**BOSS: Queen Bomber**

The Queen will start off by doing what every Buzz Bomber does: fly around and shoot pellets. Although for obvious reasons, its pellets are fairly larger than that of the average Bomber’s, and are thus harder to avoid. It will do this three times, although if you fly up as Tails, or make use of your parkour as Sonic, you can whack the Queen early to get it to move on. This won’t count as a hit, but it helps speed up the process if you’re impatient.

Either way, the Queen will eventually place itself in the middle of the flower, and the flower will close itself up to reveal laser cannons underneath, which will then process to sweep the ground. This can be tricky to dodge when you’re also trying to avoid the Mega Mack, but it’s also your moment to strike. Once the lasers have stopped, there’s a brief moment before the flower petals lower to reveal the Queen. Before that happens, spin dash one of the petals three times as quickly as you can, and this will destroy said petal.

The Queen will grow furious that you harmed its lovely flower, and in response, it’ll fly out of the camera’s view and fire a rapid onslaught of pellets straight to the ground. Fortunately, they have shadows, so you have an early warning as to where they’ll land. After which, the normal process will continue. Avoid the pellets, dodge the flower’s lasers, whack another petal three times. Smooth sailing from here, right?

Well, not quite. The process itself largely remains the same, but you’ll have more to dodge the longer the fight goes on. After two petals are destroyed, the Queen will make use of those spikes on its tail by firing them at you. Unlike the pellets, the spikes will temporarily bounce along the walls from different angles, and they’re faster as well. The Queen itself will also be slightly quicker in firing its usual pellets.

After _four_ petals are shredded, the Queen will summon regular Buzz Bombers for assistance, so you’ll have to deal with them too. However, some of them will be colored red instead of blue. Aside from being a visual nod to the similar Buzzer model, it’s also an indication that they work a little differently, as the red Bombers will forgo shooting pellets in favor of getting in your personal space, hurting you via physical contact. This can be irritating, but you can use it to your advantage by attacking them from a certain angle so that they’ll crash straight into one of the remaining flower petals, destroying said petal in one hit.

When all six petals are down, the Queen will get REALLY mad, and it’ll throw all its previous patterns out of the way in favor of charging straight towards you! Simply bop it on the head a single time… and it’ll blow up. How anticlimactic.

Well, it’s still a Buzz Bomber at the end of the day. They’ve always went down in one hit. I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

——

With the Queen’s defeat, and the destruction of its flower, the rivers of purple liquid in the hive slowly began to die down. Their course grew slower, their gushing grew quieter, until eventually, the tunnels and holes that were once full of the chemical were drained completely.

“Yeah!” Sonic cheered as he pumped a fist in the air. “No more lousy Mega Mack!” He followed it up by exchanging a bouncy high five with Tails.

“i just hope the river will recover from this,” Lutrudis muttered with concern as she fidgeted with her hands. Her bandana was down again, now that her sensitive nose was no longer affected by the surroundings. “A lot of the goop made its way there… I hope it’s not permanently tarnished…”

Sonic gradually stopped cheering as he found himself unsure on what to say in response, as he too wasn’t sure about whether it would fully recover or not. Having noticed his friend’s worrying, he could only throw a look of sympathy her way. Tails simply looked down at his feet, similarly uncertain on how to address the horse’s thoughts.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Sonic gently reassured her with a small smile, patting her on the back. “Maybe not immediately, but… things have a way of working out. Trust me.”

“Heh…”

“As for that beast, we’ve STILL not found it,” Sonic pondered out loud. “We haven’t found Eggman either, come to think of it…”

“Why do you think Eggman’s hiding?” Tails questioned.

“Your guess is as good as mine, Tails,” the hedgehog shrugged as his quills drooped. “I mean, it’s not like he’s being secretive about his involvement. We KNOW it’s him. We KNOW he’s here. Being coy isn’t like him at all…”

“Hey, guys?” Lutrudis seemed hesitant to mention what was on her mind, but she went through with voicing her thought. “I don’t know this for sure, but… I think I might have an idea on what the doctor is searching for.”

“You do???” Sonic and Tails cried out in unison.

“Please tell us, Trudy,” Sonic added urgently, yet not without tenderness. “This could really help us. Even if you’re not sure about it, tell us anyway. If we can have even a vague idea on what he could be up to, we can stop him a lot quicker.”

The young lady was conflicted. Doubt plagued her mind. What if this wasn’t it? What if she leads them to something that amounts to nothing? What if she completely wastes their time and creates more problems instead of solving them? She looked at Tails, who nodded reassuringly, then she turned back to Sonic, and she looked deep into his eyes in particular. She felt her anxiety simmering down as she focused on the hedgehog’s bright, green, friendly eyes. She took a moment to nod to herself as she finally began to spill the beans.

“I’ll take you to it myself. It’s not far from my residence.”

——

“So they were at my Mega Mack compound, I see…” mused an all too familiar voice hidden away in the shadows, as he watched the footage that was provided to him by the blue robot, who twitched nervously at his master’s brief period of silence.

“Is the hedgehog foiling your plans again, doctor?” asked another voice in the shadows.

“…Nah,” the voice replied in an uncharacteristically relaxed tone. “He’s not doing that at all, not this time. You see, he can actually destroy as much of my stuff as he wants… and it won’t mean a thing. I’ll still win.”

“And what makes you so certain of that? What exactly are you planning?”

“Ho ho ho… You’ll find out in time. That said however…” He examined the footage once more, stroking his trademark facial hair all the while. “I think I’m going to keep an eye on the new girl.”

“She doesn’t seem like anything worth concerning yourself over, doctor. She has no fancy abilities from what we’ve seen, no experience with the Chaos Emeralds…”

“I have learned a valuable lesson over the years, Orbot. When Sonic makes a new friend, they **always** cause trouble for me. I’m NOT taking any chances.”

“Understood, sir.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Now then… Are YOU ready for your next job?”

A hand emerged from the darkness to point down at the blue droid. He looked to his left and to his right, as if he were wrongly accused of a crime. He finally nodded slowly, almost anxiously, his siren still shining brightly.

“Good stuff! Then in that case…”

Out of the shadows stepped a robot who looked very similar, but not completely identical, to the blue one. He was triple the height, with a proud spot of red. As three similar pairs of red eyes glowed behind the two machines, the red one silently raised his scepter in the air, as if to celebrate a glorious occasion.

A grin slowly formed on their master’s face. A grin that Sonic had seen many, many times throughout his adventures.

“Let’s go crash the party, my **_loyal_** Heavies…


	4. A Glimpse into the Unknown

** **“Hey guys!”

“Amy! Cream!” Sonic called out to his friends with a waving hand as he made it back to Lime Shores once again. Tails and Lutrudis were naturally close by. “Glad you two are safe and sound. But where _were_ you?”

“Oh, we just did a little shopping while we waited to find you again,” Amy announced happily, her statement backed up by the significant amount of large bags on her person. “I thought the mall in Station Square was great, but THIS is something else! You won’t believe how many amazing dresses I found!”

Cream simply nodded politely with a smile. She too was carrying a few bags, though not nearly as much.

“Heh,” Sonic chuckled in response to Amy’s shopaholic tendencies. He pointed his thumb behind him in Lutrudis’ direction. “Trudy’s about to lead us to something that might help us figure out what Eggman’s up to. Wanna come?”

“Sure!” Amy exclaimed in a burst of joy, as she clasped her hands together and held them close to her chest. “Especially if it means I get more time to spend with you…” Her tail was unable to refrain from wagging again.

Sonic simply rolled his eyes affectionately, and let out another soft chuckle. As the group began walking through town together, with Lutrudis leading the way, Cream expressed some concern.

“So Dr. Eggman is doing bad things again? He’s with that scary monster?” The young rabbit wanted to cover her eyes with her long ears at the thought of that awful beast.

“Chao…” Cheese muttered thoughtfully.

“Seems like it,” Tails answered as he scratched his left ear. “We haven’t found _him_ yet, but we HAVE encountered a lot of his robots around here. But is that… thing… _really_ one of his minions…?”

Sonic promptly shook his head. “It’s probably something ancient he discovered. You know what the doc’s like, he can’t get enough of those… Chaos… Dark Gaia…” He smirked to himself. “Here’s hoping this one actually works out for him.”

Tails and Amy laughed at their friend’s snark, but Cream was still too worried at the reminder of her intense experience. Lutrudis was quick to notice this, and looked down at her as she gently wrapped her arm around her, in an effort to calm the rabbit’s nerves.

“It’ll be fine,” the horse reassured her with a calming smile. “Sonic will sort it out, like he always does.”

The girl looked up at Lutrudis, and gave a little smile in return.

The walk across the town was fairly silent afterwards, as the intended vacationers were busy admiring the pleasant surroundings as they followed Lutrudis’ direction. Indeed, the glossy sheen of the buildings around them shined brighter than ever before, and the weather was perfectly tranquil. However, as they walked along, a hawk bystander and his gecko acquaintance, who were sitting by a bench, couldn’t help but give some commentary to the situation as they took a swig of their drinks…

“Looks like Lutrudis is taking the celebrities somewhere.”

“Well, that’s typical, isn’t it. Of course they flock to the _special_ one…”

“You think they fell for it?”

“Probably.”

Sonic’s ears perked up in suspicion at what the two males were saying, and he noticed that Lutrudis’ own ears were drooping, clearly in response to what was said about her. The hero tried to brush their comments aside, but…

“So where do you think she’s taking them?”

“Dunno. Probably to her big fancy castle.”

“Ugh, I forgot about that. Her big fancy castle that she only got cause she’s good at faking it…”

Sonic’s eyes furrowed ever so slightly more as he noticed Lutrudis glancing to her side in quiet discomfort. Amy also heard their harsh words, and seemed to be getting visibly agitated herself.

“I tell you what though, you have to give credit to her for keeping it up for so long.”

“I’ll say. All that effort on an excuse to sit around being useless…”

“_Okay,_” Sonic firmly started as he turned around to face the idle citizens. His hands were both clenched into fists, and his spines were mildly bristled. “I don’t know what your problem is with Trudy, but you better back off. _**Or else.**_”

Amy nodded affirmatively, ready to bring out her hammer if need be. Tails, while clearly not wanting to start a public fight, had himself in a defensive position all the same, just in case.

The two guys looked at each other, back to the heroes, and then back to each other once more. The gecko was the one to break their shared silence.

“We should probably go…” he advised to his hawk accomplice.

“Good idea… I mean… it _is_ Sonic the Hedgehog… I’m not stupid…”

And with that, they both scurried off as fast as they possibly could, wisely deciding not to cross a supersonic hedgehog any further. Sonic glared at them as they ran off, only turning his head back around once they were well and truly gone. Lutrudis, who observed Sonic’s callout, proceeded to give a bashful little bow for his defending of her.

“Thanks for that…” she muttered, though her tone was still somewhat upset.

“Don’t sweat it,” Sonic smiled as they continued walking along. “I know another hawk who’s a total jerk. It’s nothing new to me.”

“Heh…” Lutrudis continued leading the way, trying not to look too bothered about what had transpired. Sonic - and the rest for that matter - could only wonder as to what exactly the rude duo were having a go at her for…

——

“So are you the only one who lives in this place?”

“Indeed I am, Tails. Living right in the centre of town was never really for me. I much prefer the tranquillity here… when it’s not interrupted, that is.”

Cream couldn’t help but feel self-conscious as they trekked through the same forest she had been in not so long ago, but she kept by Lutrudis’ side, knowing that she, along with the rest of her friends, wouldn’t let anything attack her so easily this time around. Without fully realising it, she had grabbed onto the horse’s soft tail to keep herself calm, possibly having considered it a subconscious substitute for her mother’s dress. Lutrudis, though initially surprised, was fine with this, as she wanted her new friend to feel at ease through whichever means the latter felt were necessary.

“It sure is a nice place you’ve settled in,” Amy mused, basking in the glow of the forest. “Looks romantic too!”

“…Yeah…” Sonic added reluctantly, as he brushed a hand through his spines. “It’s pretty big though. I wouldn’t blame you for getting lost here, even if it is where your house is…”

He paused.

“Hang on, didn’t those guys say you lived in a _castle?_”

“That much is… true, yes,” Lutrudis confirmed.

“_…That_ castle?” He pointed his finger straight ahead.

“Ohhhhh!” Cream bounced excitedly, and Cheese similarly bounced in the air. “I saw that castle! YOU live inside it? That’s really cool!”

The rest of the group went silent as they took a good look at the impressive sight that Lutrudis called her home, with the only sound at that moment coming from the nearby waterfall. It was exactly as it was when Cream witnessed it the first time around. The dark green roofs meshed well with the perfectly clean stone structures that held them, the lake rippled undisturbed, and the very occasional autumnal leaf fell from the nearby trees. If they didn’t have urgent matters to attend to, Sonic would have been tempted to sit right there and enjoy the spectacle.

Taking a moment to notice her friends were stunned by the sight, Lutrudis turned back to them and gestured them to come over with a light smile.

“Try not to step on the flowers, please,” she asked lightheartedly.

Not that they would have wanted to, as the little garden of flowers that was set up in front of the castle was a wonderful sight. White lilies, pink daisies, and red roses were just a few that complimented the scene, each of them lined up perfectly in their own area. But most of all, there were a truly plentiful amount of blue tulips, and they covered the middle of the garden. The group made sure to tread on the pathways between the rows of flowers as they made their way to the entrance.

“Someone likes their flowers,” Sonic commented brightly. Being a flower aficionado himself, he was tempted to pick one from the garden, though he refused to do so for his friend’s sake.

“You could say that,” Lutrudis looked at her rows with a loving glance as she moved along. “Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, so I try to include as many types as I can.” She suddenly looked to her side awkwardly. “…Except for corpse flowers, of course. Got nothing against them, but I’d rather not have them stinking the place up.”

“But anyway,” she added as she made it to her impressively sized front door, which was coated with a bold shade of red and fitted with golden bolts. She turned back to them again. “Come on in…”

With a strong pull, she opened the great door, and as the team walked right in, they couldn’t believe their eyes, for although the interior was predictably just as beautiful as the outside, it couldn’t have been any more different if it tried. Far from the stone and the greens of the exterior, the heroes were instead greeted with a long marble hallway, coated with a light shade of brown with golden accents. The carpet they were now standing on was a dark tone of red, with a lighter tone marking the elegant patterns featured on it, and the hallway was lined up with rows upon rows of impossibly fancy suits of armor. The arched windows let the light of the outdoors shine through.

“This is so AWESOME!” Amy shouted as she and Cream jumped together in giddy pleasure. “It’s so… grand! You should decorate MY home sometime!”

Sonic glanced up at the tall roof, which was fitted with a collection of patterned silk flags in red and blue. “This is, uh… this is a castle, alright,” he slowly muttered in amazement.

“That’s the mood I was going for,” Lutrudis mildly beamed with her hands behind her back, as she too looked up. “I wanted to give a place like this the treatment it deserved… even if it took a while to get it all done.”

“You did all this?” Tails asked as he subconsciously hovered over the ground while he marveled the surroundings. “On your own?”

“Well, yes,” the horse answered bluntly. “The outside was kept as it should be, but inside was nothing but a bunch of decay and rust. I felt it was my duty to give it a second life… Oh dear, excuse me for a second. There’s a filthy little spot up there.”

She brought out a peculiar golden stick that heavily resembled a riding crop. Sonic and Tails exchanged confused glances with Amy and Cream respectively at this sight, but that confusion was soon turned to intrigue as - with a careful flick of the horse’s wrist - the crop extended right up to the roof, revealing its true nature as a whip. The end of the whip latched onto one of the poles that carried the flags, and Lutrudis herself was slowly pulled upwards to the roof. Upon reaching the top, she wordlessly pulled out a small feather duster and briefly brushed a small patch of dust on the wall. In seconds, it was shining proudly as if it were brand new.

She gave out a little sigh in satisfaction. “Hmm, that’s better.” She then lowered herself back to ground level just as carefully, and as soon as her boots touched the ground, she let the whip dismount, and it came shooting straight back to her. With her free hand on her hip, she waited until the whip had returned to her completely, but before she could put the device back in her pocket, she turned to her four friends, who were staring at her blankly in unison.

“…Something the matter…?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Where did you get THAT?” Tails wondered with a balanced mix of curiosity and bafflement.

“Oh, this little thing?” She looked at her nifty doodad. “I made this as well, actually. It helps me out in a place this big.” As they finally began to stroll through the hallway, each of Lutrudis’ guests looked up, down, and all around at the fabulous level of detail. As his three friends simply looked on in wonder, Sonic looked to his left at one of the many suits of armor. It was caped, befitted with jewelry, and had a long and slighty ridiculous plume sticking out of the top of its helmet. He shrugged and shook his head jokingly, with another one of his chuckles.

“Guess you get really into the designing phase, huh?”

Lutrudis simply chucked in return as she rubbed the back of her head coyly. “I suppose I can get a bit carried away. But yes, it’s a pastime of mine. To create, to bring to life… it’s such a wonderful feeling.”

“Why do you live in a castle?” Cream asked with the kind of innocent curiosity that only a child could muster, as she caught up with the horse’s pace. “Are you… a princess?” The rabbit couldn’t help but be reminded of another friend upon delivering the well-meaning query.

Lutrudis looked down at the girl tenderly, and lightly shook her head. “No, Cream. I’m hardly of royal descent. I live here simply because it accommodates me. Once upon a time this castle was planned to be demolished, having been abandoned for an untold amount of centuries… I couldn’t bare to witness such a magnificent structure get turned to rubble, so I bought it out.”

“…How do you _buy a castle_ like it’s no big deal?” Tails pondered out loud, exchanging a look with Amy. “Are you rich, or…?”

“Not rich per say, just… good at saving up,” the young lady answered in a semi-playful tone.

As Lutrudis pointed directions and explained where all the important rooms were, to which Amy and Cream were listening to every word, Sonic waited until the three girls were further ahead of them to ask Tails something a little more personal.

“Tails, don’t take this the wrong way, but…” He motioned towards the stairs in the castle… which weren’t stairs at all, but were instead a row of small ramps, the kind that would be reserved for wheelchairs. “Do you think there’s something… _up_ with Trudy?”

“What do you mean?” the young fox asked in a concerned tone. He looked mildly upset at the implication he thought his friend had in mind. “Is it something bad?”

“No, bro, not anything bad,” Sonic put his hand on Tails’ shoulder to reassure him that he wasn’t about to make slanderous remarks about their newest friend. “It’s just… I think there’s something about her that she doesn’t want to tell us… But whatever it is, I also think she HAS to tell us, for her own sake.”

“What makes you think that?” Tails made sure to briefly look ahead so that the girls were still too far away to hear them.

“Have you noticed whenever she does certain things, she’s like… in pain?” The hedgehog fumbled his hands about aimlessly. “I don’t know how to describe it, but…”

“Now that you mention it, I _have_ noticed that,” Tails confirmed as he placed a finger on his mouth in thought. He then turned to Sonic again, his face still concerned. “What should we do? I don’t want to upset her…”

Sonic’s own face took on a grim expression, as he glanced at the red carpet below him. “Neither do I, Tails. But if we don’t get to the bottom of this-”

“Hey! What’s keeping you, slowpokes?” Amy called out jokingly at the tail end of the hallway. Lutrudis and Cream had already went through to the next room. “You guys are missing this!”

Making sure to hurry up and rejoin the girls, the hedgehog and fox went through the door that Amy held open for them. When they reached the other side however, they once again experienced a visual whiplash, for the walls were no longer marble, but glass. They were able to see outside through the glass, to the sides and up at the sky, but that wasn’t nearly as notable as the impressive amount of flora stored within. As far as they could see, every single plant in the area was as healthy as can be, not a single one looked unwell. The white wooden patterns that held the glass together added that extra touch of style, along with the cobblestone walkways.

Lutrudis looked at her friends taking the scenery in. Sonic in particular was very impressed, and Cream was predictably excited to see such a place. The horse let out another soft smile as she motioned forward. “Through here,” she said.

There was no conversation at all through their trek in the garden, but there didn’t need to be. The environment had their undivided attention as it was. Cream kept pointing at all the different plants she saw to bring their attention to the similarly dazzled Amy, and Tails flew up just below the glass roof to examine the garden from a higher angle. Sonic simply continued walking, though upon looking back at Lutrudis, he smiled to himself in admiration of just how well she maintained her home.

Eventually, they made it to the apparent last stop, which was represented by a simple glass door. Since they could see through the glass, they could see that beyond the door was the peak of a grassy cliff. There was nothing else beyond the shimmering blue sea… or so they thought.

“Now, be careful here,” Lutrudis warned with a pointed finger as she let them through the door, to which they soon noticed that there were in fact a flight of rocky steps behind the cliff, which appeared to lead into a small cavern built into the cliff. Sonic’s eyebrow raised, and he turned to Lutrudis to confirm if this was indeed where she was meaning to lead them. The lady simply nodded, and Sonic in turn led the way. They made sure not to stumble or fall as they walked down the misshapen steps, though Lutrudis was quick to stick at Cream’s side so as to prevent her from getting anxious. When Sonic finally reached the bottom, he didn’t even need to properly enter the cavern to immediately understand why Lutrudis led them there. His jaw was ever so slightly agape.

_“…Woah…”_

When his friends reached the bottom themselves, they wondered what exactly in the cavern caught Sonic’s attention… but when they proceeded to glance in the same direction, their own jaws began to hang open. The cavern itself was perfectly ordinary, as dark and rocky as you would expect, but it was filled to the brim with crystals sticking out of the ground, all of which came in a variety of colours. They saw red crystals. They saw blue crystals. They saw yellow. They saw green. Purple… Orange… Pink… Though they did nothing other than look pretty, the heroes quickly guessed that these weren’t ordinary crystals. They could** feel** that these weren’t ordinary crystals. As dark as the cavern was otherwise, some of the colours subtly reflected on the walls and the roof.

Sonic looked at a nearby red crystal, and reached out to touch it… and he pulled his hand back instantly after, visibly weirded out.

“It’s so… warm… REALLY warm…” Sonic muttered in surprise.

Curious by this assessment, Tails saw a blue crystal to his left and touched that one… Sure enough, he pulled his own hand back, but he blew air onto his hand, as though it were suddenly chilly. “This one isn’t,” he concluded.

Sonic turned to Lutrudis, who was still standing at the entrance of the cavern. “So what’s the story with these things?”

Amy and Cream looked at the horse as well, who slowly walked into the cavern and sat down on a nearby rock. She glanced to her right at the crystal beside her for a brief moment, appreciating its emerald beauty, before she turned back to the heroes.

“I had stumbled upon these by accident one day,” she explained. She clasped her hands and rested them on her thigh. “I hadn’t seen anything like it before, not in person anyway. When I was too curious for my own good, I discovered the hard way that they were capable of some rather… unexpected things…” She chuckled sheepishly. “Nearly got myself electrocuted.”

“Jeez…” Amy cringed.

“Well, that was enough to scare me off. I’ve never done anything with them since, but…” She looked at the green crystal beside her once more. The glow that emitted from it was subdued, but seductive. “…You can feel it, can’t you? You can feel their power…”

Sonic exchanged a look with Amy, who in turn looked somewhat uneasy. He then turned to Tails, who returned an uncertain look of his own. “Are these things like the Chaos Emeralds, then…?” the blue hedgehog asked with his hands on his hips, as he turned back to the sitting horse.

“Well, not quite,” she stated. “Their capabilites seem to be straightforward from what I experienced. You know, burning things, freezing things, that sort of thing… They don’t seem to be able to match the power of, say, all seven Chaos Emeralds.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Sonic reasoned with a shrug. “Guess Eggman’s lowering his expectations this time.”

“Ha!” Amy laughed as she smugly crossed her arms. “It’s still more than what HE deserves!”

“I wouldn’t say that too soon, Sonic,” Lutrudis warned him with a hint of dread. “Because this isn’t the full picture.”

“It’s not?”

“After I discovered them, I tried to find more information on them.” She stood up and started trailing slowly around the cavern. The fingers on her left hand were lightly scraping the wall. “It took me a while, but eventually, I found out that these crystals are the leftovers of something else… something greater…”

“Something else…?” Cream quietly worried.

“Chao…?” Cheese bravely added.

“What SORT of something else…?” Sonic wondered with a gesture of the hands. “Another shiny rock? A monster that was sealed away?” He snapped his fingers as a light bulb switched on in his head. “Could that creepy monster we’re trying to find have something to do with it?”

Lutrudis’ eyes went to and fro, clearly unsure about that herself. She shook her head slowly. “I can’t say either way for sure, as none of the info I found about the Ethereal Zone mentioned anything of the sort.”

“The what zone…?”

“Oh, sorry, that’s what I was about to mention,” Lutrudis motioned with her hand. “I learned that there’s a place… or _was_ a place… called the Ethereal Zone. Not much was said about it other than the basic stuff, that it was a place filled with great power and all that. As far as I know, not a lot of people here seem to have any knowledge on it at all.”

She threw her hands in the air in disappointment as she walked towards Sonic. “I wish I had more to share on that, but that’s about as much as I know…”

“So…” Sonic started, trying to connect the pieces himself. “You think Eggman might be after this Ethereal Zone thing?”

“If it still exists,” Lutrudis answered with a shrug. “But then, I suppose there’s no reason to be skeptical here, if the doctor is making an effort to seek it out.”

“Not to sound helpless, but what can we do about this?” Tails hovered back down from the rock he was sitting on. “We can fight Eggman, but we don’t know anything about this place. If it’s still around at all, _where is it?_”

“Yeah…” Sonic muttered, while rubbing his chin. “And it’s not likely that it would be as simple as finding a door either. From my experiences, if it’s really this big mysterious place, there’ll probably be some crazy requirement to find it, let alone enter it.”

“But we can’t let him find it, can we?” Cream pointed out fearfully. “He would do really scary things if he found it…” She covered her eyes at the thought of what could happen in the worst case scenario.

“He won’t find it, Cream,” Amy assured her. She briefly brought out her hammer with a smirk. “The only thing he’ll be getting around here is a sore butt.”

“She’s right,” Sonic agreed with a smirk of his own. “We’ve beat Eggman loads of times! This won’t be any different.” He began to make his way out of the cavern. “Still, he can cause a lot of damage when he has the right tools, so we better act right awa-AAH!”

Sonic was only barely quick enough to dodge the silk brown sack that had suddenly dispatched from the roof of the entrance, which - upon closer inspection - was teeming with a selection of small holes. One of said holes had a rope extending from it, which carried and tied the empty sack. Sonic put his hand on his heartbeat for just a moment as he stared at the sack in surprise. Tails, Amy and Cream shifted their focus to Lutrudis for an explanation, who couldn’t help but cover her face with her hand in embarrassment.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry… I forgot all about that.” She brushed the empty sack aside as she began walking back up the rocky steps with Sonic. The other three tagged along behind them. “I have a little trap set up there in case some stinker tried to steal the crystals. Can’t be too careful with these things.”

“I see…” Once the initial shock wore off, the Blue Blur laughed a little. “I don’t suppose you took some lessons from an echidna?”

When he turned to Lutrudis however, Sonic stopped smiling, as he noticed that she appeared to be physically struggling. The more steps they walked up, the more she looked dangerously exhausted. While he was right behind the duo, Tails noticed this right away as well.

“What’s wrong, Trudy?” Sonic asked in concern.

Lutrudis was extremely quick to dismiss the situation as they finished climbing the steps. “It’s… It’s nothing, I’m fine.” She was about to return to the door of her back garden, but before she could do so, Sonic grabbed her hand. She turned to Sonic in mild surprise, thinking she was perhaps in trouble. Sonic’s face however proved otherwise, as the only expression he had was the same concern he showed before.

“Trudy… what’s wrong?” Sonic inquired once again, slower this time.

“Huh…?”

“I know something’s up, Trudy.” He sat her down on a nearby rock, and sat down himself. “You’ve looked like you’ve been in agony when you run too fast, when you go up stairs, when you get into a kneeling position… what’s up?”

If Lutrudis’ resulting expression was anything to go by, Sonic figured out immediately that she was reluctant to talk about what had caught his intrigue.

“…Oh… that…” She looked down to her side as her hands mildly fidgeted. All of a sudden, she looked deeply ashamed. “It’s… just a silly thing, really. You shouldn’t need to concern yourself about it…” She was about to stand back up and continue walking, but Tails stopped her.

“Yes we do,” Tails responded, looking just as worried as his older bro. “You can tell us what the matter is. We won’t judge.”

“Tails is right,” Amy added, as she tenderly put a hand on Lutrudis’ shoulder. “You’re our friend, right? You don’t need to hide anything.”

“Please tell us what’s wrong…” Cream looked up at Lutrudis with pleading eyes, upset that something would be bothering her friend so much. Lutrudis’ eyes met with Cream’s, and slowly, yet surely, her expression was that of defeat. Reluctantly, she slowly sat back down beside Sonic, and took a moment to start.

“Have you heard of EDS?” she asked calmly. She looked up at the three members standing, who all exchanged blank looks with each other. She turned her head left to observe Sonic’s reaction, who similarly didn’t react much at all beyond the curiosity he already displayed.

She was visibly dejected. “I figured you wouldn’t have, though I can’t say I blame you. It’s not a well known thing.”

She struggled for a moment to think of how to explain the concept she just introduced. She looked at her right hand, and brought it to the focus of everyone. Without a word, she held her fingers with her other hand, and began bending them upwards… and much to everyone’s shock, it continued bending beyond the normal limit. Sonic looked especially dumbfounded. She held it in this position for a few more seconds, briefly glancing at each person’s reaction to make sure they understood her point, and then slowly returned her fingers back to normal. The lack of response from Lutrudis herself upon doing this indicated that she had somehow _not_ broke her finger bones in the process.

Still silent, she then pinched her arm, and pulled. Her skin extended further than that of most people. Her friends were understandably unnerved just a bit. “As you can see,” she began. “I have a form of hypermobility. I can bend or stretch certain joints further than that of the average person.”

“That sounds pretty cool,” Sonic muttered, still mulling over what he had just seen.

Lutrudis on the other hand was not so positive about it, as she let go of the skin of her arm. “I wish I could say that much,” she sighed. “It also means that my joints are _weaker_ than the average person’s. I have to be extremely careful every day so that I don’t twist something by accident. And even then, I’m not guaranteed to be safe, as sometimes my body will just act up without provocation. Naturally, this means my overall health is weaker than most.”

“But… you look great,” Sonic reasoned, gently rubbing his friend’s shoulder. “You don’t look unhealthy at all.”

“Yeah, you’re really pretty!” Cream added.

Lutrudis gave out a melancholy chuckle, before glancing at the ground. “Well, that’s part of the deal. It’s mostly not a physical thing. I may _look _fine, but…” The forlorn horse twirled her hand around aimlessly, and then looked to her side at the beautiful sea. She took another moment to continue. “Obviously it’s hard to be taken seriously because of this…”

“You mean, THIS is what those guys were hounding you for!?” Amy briefly fumed at the not-so-distant memory of those ignorant citizens, before shaking her head frantically and sitting down beside Lutrudis and Sonic.

“Yeah…” Lutrudis muttered quietly. “I couldn’t count all the times where I’ve been accused of talking nonsense. Or the times I’ve been given a dirty look for taking the elevator or the ramp over the stairs. They just think I’m lazy.” She shyly rubbed her arm. It was clear that she wasn’t used to discussing this subject with people who were willing to listen.

“Well, forget those jerks!” Amy gave Lutrudis a gentle pat on the back. “They don’t know what they’re talking about. If they’re treating you like trash over this, that’s THEIR problem.”

“What can we do to cure it, Lutrudis?” Cream thought out loud in the sweetest tone imaginable. Lutrudis in turn could only smile sadly at the well-intentioned rabbit.

“That’s a wonderful sentiment, Cream, but… you see…” Her smile slowly faded away again as she was forced to acknowledge the reality that’s been on her mind throughout all her life. “It’s not something you can cure, I’m afraid. If you have it… that’s all there is to it. It can be soothed, treated… but never cured.” She let out another sad chuckle. “It’s funny, really. Dreading something as harmless as a staircase just because it causes you pain.”

Sonic looked down at the ground for a few tough moments, unsure of what to even say. This was far from the usual conundrum he was accustomed to confronting. He turned to Tails’ direction for assistance, but the fox could only share his sympathetic silence. Amy continued rubbing Lutrudis’ back, and poor Cream was visibly struggling not to tear up at her friend’s misfortune.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Sonic was ready to speak up, albeit very slowly, as if he were still thinking about what he was actually about to bring forth. “Look, Trudy-”

Before he could continue however, he was suddenly cut off by an ear-piercing explosion in the distance. Sonic immediately stood up in preparation along with Amy and Lutrudis, and turned around to face the direction of where the explosion seemingly came from. “What was THAT?”

As if to answer the question that he deep down already knew the answer to, he was greeted with a distant, yet horrible sound that was all too familiar to the blue hero’s ears…

** _“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”_ **

“So he’s finally revealed himself…” Tails feared.

“We can’t waste any time, guys,” Sonic clenched his fists together. “Whatever Eggman’s up to, we need to find him right away before he does something crazy!”

Without a further word, Sonic immediately dropped to the sea and began running along the tip of the ocean with his amazing speed. Tails followed suit and took flight in the same direction while holding onto Lutrudis, and Cream did the same with Amy. Even the most naive in the group knew full well that the doctor most likely had something sinister in store for them, but they couldn’t afford to leave him on his own when the wellbeing of innocents were potentially at stake.


	5. A Drop of Life or Death

“Just keep following me, guys!” Sonic called out to his pursuing friends as he breezed along the ocean with his amazing namesake. Who needs a boat when you’re the fastest thing alive? He directed his attention towards what appeared to be a tranquil beachside area, which courtesy of its boardwalks, and its white, pristine sands, he couldn’t help but be reminded of his favourite relaxing spot in Station Square.

“Where are we headed to?” Amy asked quickly, as she continued to hold onto Cream while the latter flew in the air.

“The local coastal resort is not too far from here,” Lutrudis replied, while she did the same with Tails. “Being such a destination, it’s naturally a popular spot in Viridonia. If Dr. Eggman is the kind of character I’ve been led to believe, it’s possible he may be sabotaging the place for… whatever selfish reason.”

“Maybe he’s forcing everyone to worship him…” Cream pondered out loud fearfully.

“If he’s not busy worshipping_ himself,_” Amy added with a bit of sass, having known the evil scientist’s self-aggrandizing habits for some time now.

“Eggman makes me feel older…” Tails muttered somewhat absent-mindedly.

“Did you guys say coastal resort?” the sea-walking Sonic questioned, with a notable drip of dread in his voice. “There won’t be too many unavoidable pits of water around, will there?”

“…Aren’t you running on water right now?” Tails pointed out, trying hard to hide his amused tone.

“Not the same thing!” Sonic denied defensively, as he dashed off to their destination. The remaining four exchanged glances with each other, before picking up the speed themselves. Unbeknownest to them however, the blue droid from before was spying on the group once again. High above their own heights, he rubbed his hands in glee, in tune with the siren atop his cranium.

“Heh heh heh…” he giggled, betrayed by his unthreatening voice and nervous pitch.

—

** Coastline Resort Zone **

** _CR Act 1: Shining Shore_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Crabmeat** \- “Yet another ‘classic’ in the doctor’s repertoire of mischievous metal myrmidons. Not only do they use those great big pincers to pinch you in the backside, like any crab with a short fuse, they also fire pellets from afar. Better turn them into Crabscrap before they cause you grief.”

**Gameblow** \- “Based on the older model known as Game Game (_darling_ name, I must say), these innocuous looking turtles spin their shells like a deadly frisbee. Regular frisbees are bad enough, but at least they only hurt your neck rather than, y'know, potentially slice it.”

**Aquis** \- “Despite being based on seahorses, these ones never touch a single drop of water, instead opting to swim through the air… as well as rain down bullets on you. Not very advertiser friendly.”

**Sweep** \- “Can you run on water? So can these pests, unfortunately. Trimming along the deep blue with surprising grace, they like to insert their spiked noses into your person… I trust it goes without saying that this would hurt quite a bit.”

At the risk of disappointing Sonic greatly, welcome to your first water zone in Viridonia. There may have been the odd watery area in the previous zones, but this will be the first one to really make use of your swimming skills… or non-swimming skills. Well, it may not suit the Blue Blur’s tastes, but you’re not gonna stop Eggman otherwise, right?

Anyway, you won’t have to fret too much about inescapable underwater sections for the time being, as this act takes place at the lovely beach by the sea. If you expect this to simply be a textbook Emerald Coast however (you know, like Wave Ocean), you’ve got another thing coming. True, there’s elements of those stages here and there - the palm trees filled with juicy coconuts, the wooden boardwalks leading off into the ocean, the occasional flashy yacht floating along to make you feel dissatisfied with your own life choices - but even a quick glance will reveal the beautifully decorated plaza, the higher cliffs teeming with stunning waterfalls, and the tall torches complimenting the gradually darkening sky, as it’s close to reaching sunset by this point.

You can even stop by the tourist centers if you want to, of which their residents will be happy to provide you with interesting facts about the place… when they’re not grumbling about rival tourist destinations, that is.

“I heard that Apotos once got corrupted by a dark force, causing its residents to act out and commit heinous acts of evil… Now between you and me, would they have went through all that suffering if they came_ here…?_”

“You know the worst thing about that Dr. Robotnik? His vacation planning make no sense! Who puts a theme park in space? Was it his plan all along to kill everyone through lack of oxygen?”

“Soleanna? More like SoleanNAH… Look, I don’t get visitors often…”

By this point, you’ll have noticed that Lutrudis isn’t the only one tagging along with Sonic and Tails this time around. Amy and Cream are tagging along too, and like Miss Hadeer, they’ll try their best to help out here and there, as well as provide banter that _doesn’t_ get repetitive or redundant. You can’t rely on them too much though, or else this would be far too easy. The Crabmeats and Gameblows still put their focus on you when attacking, though the Aquis seahorses will prove to be the most obnoxious of the set due to their tendency to hang around in the air. Suffice to say, Tails can get rid of them a lot quicker, unless you’re really good with Sonic’s momentum.

By the time you reach the home stretch, represented by an impressively sized lighthouse, an orca whale will pop out of the water. Luckily, despite your initial reservations, this one is friendly to blue hedgehogs, as it happily allows you to run along its back… But once you jump off its back, and leap high into the air,_ another_ orca will suddenly jump out to try and eat you. After narrowly avoiding the hostile orca’s vacumn of a mouth, you’re quick to notice that it’s been equipped with highly advanced armor… and it appears to be acting against its own will, as you also notice the blue robot hovering down with a remote control…

**Amy: **What’s going on!?

**Sonic:** Wait, that’s-!

**Gunner:** Heh heh heh…

As the first orca wisely flees the scene of the crime, you’re forced to run away from the clutches of the second, mechanized orca. As tense as orca chases were in the past, they didn’t fire lasers and bombs at you. Poor Cream in particular is frightened beyond belief, but you’ve made it out of these situations before. Unfortunately, the actual terrain is a lot more complicated than past incidents of this sort as well, as you must traverse through piers, caves, AND cliffs to escape the jaws of the beast.

Eventually however, the ray of the lighthouse will shine upon the mecha orca, and with its temporary distraction, it’ll crash into the nearest cliff, Monstro-style. Don’t worry, it’s not dead. But it did get rid of the armor encasing it, thus freeing it of its operator’s control.

**Gunner:** Ohhhhh nooooo…

As the robot rather pathetically crushes its remote in anger, before flying away, you can finally complete the stage by freeing the critters from the end capsule. But in the distance, you can hear a lot of splashing, and a lot of children in particular yelling out gleefully. Or could one of those be a_ man_child…?

—

“Who was THAT weirdo?” Amy wondered as she squeezed the last drop of water out of her quills. “Eggman’s newest hunk of junk?”

“Is the poor whale okay…?” Cream worried to herself. Lutrudis was quick to nod in reassurance, and gave her the A-OK hand signal for good measure. Amy also nodded sympathetically as she rubbed her little friend’s head in affection.

“That wasn’t a new guy,” Sonic muttered, still soaked from head to toe, and not too pleased about it if his slumped body language was of any indication. “That was a Heavy.”

“A what?”

“A Heavy, Amy. A Hard-Boiled Heavy to be precise. Me and Tails tangled with them long ago… I didn’t think I’d ever see them again, but here we are.”

“_Them?_”Cream asked nervously. "How many of them are there…?“

"Five,” Tails answered bluntly. “They were tougher than they looked too,” he added dejectedly.

“Drat,” Amy cursed out loud, complete with a fist in her palm. “And I guess Eggman didn’t decide to only rebuild one of them? Now we have a whole GROUP of jerks to watch out for.”

“There’s five of _us_ though, right…?” Lutrudis gestured with her left hand. “Surely they’re not much different from the doctor’s other robots.”

“Well actually,” Sonic scratched his ear as he looked to his side awkwardly. “These robots were enhanced by a really weird jewel.”

“Oh… of course…” Lutrudis trailed off, before quickly regaining her confident burst. “Well you still beat them once before. We can handle them… At least,you guys can… Myself, well…”

Before Sonic could argue with what he perceived as an error in her statement, Lutrudis cleared the last set of bushes that revealed the source of all the excited noise: a hustling, bustling water park. The vaguely ancient architecture suggested that it was formerly a set of aquatic ruins, but with the addition of industrial gizmos and doodads in the modern age, it was now a colorful array of seaside adrenaline. Dazzling fountains were dotted all over, and it truly caught the group’s attention.

“Wow, this place looks cool!” Tails beamed with youthful glee. His tails couldn’t help but twirl around in excitement. “We should hang out here for real when this is over! What do you think, Sonic?”

He was quick to notice the look of subdued resignation on his lifelong buddy’s face. Evidently, the blue hedgehog had wearily accepted that he was about to get very wet once again.

“Oh man…” Sonic sighed, as Lutrudis put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

—

** _CR Act 2: Crazy Rapids_**

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Lobstrike** \- “These lobsters practically become heat-seeking missiles the moment they spot an enemy. Fortunately, while they’re certainly fast, they can’t turn around once they fire at you. Can’t say I was fond of the taste of lobsters anyway.”

**Scuba Pawn** \- “The most clever thing about these Pawns is that they’re sea green. Slightly less clever is their tendency to throw their floatie rings like boomerangs, as well as launch a torpedo if you’re under the sea. The doctor’s compulsive need to mix deadly and daft would be almost admirable if it weren’t for his equally compulsive need to conquer the world through it.”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Crabmeat  
Gameblow  
Aquis  
Sweep

Doesn’t this place look amazingly fun? Not if you’re aquaphobic. Good thing no one on the team is, or else this would be very awkward.

Being a water park, you have a plentiful amount of gimmicks to experiment with. Water slides, water whirligigs, giant bubbles for you to substitute for temporary platforms, and even jacuzzi hot tubs that launch you up in the air with their overwhelming heat. Everything’s coming up wet around here! The hybrid of marble ruins and wacky equipment certainly makes for a memorable scene, but don’t get too distracted, lest you get bumped off by a Scuba Pawn.

Speaking of which, does no one here realise the gravity of the robots’ presence? One lanky zebra in khaki shorts seems to have a unique take on them…

“Yoooo! Digging these mascots, dude! So full of life, know what I mean dawg?”

As you attempt to avoid shutting down emotionally upon hearing the word “dawg”, let’s discuss the swimming in this adventure at last. As Sonic, you naturally_ can’t_ swim, but as Tails, you can count on that cute little doggy paddle of yours to help you go places. Compared to the old days however, Tails can now swim a lot faster, making underwater sections a lot more bearable than they would be otherwise. Of course, Tails will still tire out if you doggy paddle for too long, and regardless of who you’re playing as, failure to obtain oxygen in time will result in a certain memorable countdown… followed by death.

That’s not to say that you can’t complete underwater stages with Sonic. The level design is always laid out in a way that ensures he can still make it through as well. But basically, you’re better off with using Tails in these type of stages, unless you have something to prove.

And what would a place called Crazy Rapids be if it didn’t have any rapids? There’s a whole bunch of them, and you gotta watch your step, as the current during these sections is way too speedy for you to swim through without getting washed away. Like the honey in the Hornet’s Nest though, you won’t die if you get caught in it. You’ll simply be momentarily inconvenienced… which is nonetheless a big deal when there’s Lobstrikes willing to take advantage of your situation.

After all the slides, the rapids, and the trips in and out of the water, you’ll eventually find yourself running along a straight path that takes you to the park’s information center… But right before you enter it, you’re suddenly bombarded with missiles. Once you dodge them for a brief period, the source of the missiles will hover down and reveal itself… a familiar helicopter, with a familiar passenger. With a push of a button on its control panel, the copter dispatches the rotors in exchange for a round underside, and the vehicle slams down onto the floor behind you with a mighty crash, breaking the floor apart instantly. With the contraption now taking the form of a boat, you must run for your life as an old friend tries valiantly to earn himself some much desired payback…

**BOSS: Heavy Gunner**

On one hand, this is kind of like your original fight with the police-themed Heavy, in that you’re keeping up the pace against his vehicle of choice, and he’s firing an onslaught of missiles everywhere he goes.

On the other hand, everything else is completely different.

For starters, Gunner’s boat is always behind you, and its chipping away at the ground you’re cruising along. Falling into the water here won’t_ technically_ count as an instant death, but you’ll be a sitting duck for the balloon-sized bombs that he sends down your way, so try to avoid that fate as best as you can. Should you stay above the ocean however, Gunner will opt for continuing his missile assault with his trusty yet blocky bazooka.

Now, Gunner’s missiles have different colours, just like your past encounter with him. But this time, he fires red and _green_, not blue. Red missiles go straight for you, while green missiles arch upwards, loop around once, and then crash down onto the floor ahead of you, thus risking a watery trap for your character. The cybernetic sail on the front of the boat prevents offensive measures from the front, and neither type of missile can be deflected back, for it is proven that a robot can learn from his mistakes. So what do you do?

Wait for a green missile. Then, when it loops around and is close to ground level, grab onto it. Keep holding on until the missile is at the highest it can go, and right before it crashes down to the ground…

**Gunner: **Uhhhhh ohhhhh…

…let go of the missile and slam _yourself _down onto the boat with all your might. Gunner’s subsequent arm flailing and eyeball popping will indicate that he did not account for this maneuver, and his boat will notably sink ever so slightly.

Three more rounds of this is all it takes. But be warned, for in an effort to prevent you from pulling that stunt again, the pattern of the green missiles will grow increasingly erratic after each hit, culminating with some truly fast zig-zag sweeping. As well as that, he’ll also start firing missiles while you’re up high in an attempt to make you lose focus. But speed is your middle name, so you’ve got this in the bag. After four strikes, the boat will finally give way and sink altogether, but not before Gunner ejects from his craft and jets away. This won’t be the last you see of him, but you’ve foiled him for now. Let’s just hope his buddies follow the same destiny…

—

“Y-you’ll pay for t-this…” Gunner muttered timidly, as he used his jetpack to fly off to an unspecified destination.

“Sorry cop, but you ain’t taking me in,” Sonic quipped. “Wasn’t fun being in jail the first time around…” He and his friends carried on running through the path, only to stop by an isolated building hidden away by trees and bushes. Upon taking a step inside…

“Look, Mr. Sonic!” Cream clasped her hands happily.

“Huh?” Sonic turned around after making sure Gunner was gone, and to his own surprise, occupying the lobby area was a whole bunch of Chao, of different colours and shapes, all playing around without a care in the world. Some of them were enjoying the pool, others were sliding down minature slides and throwing balls with each other, content with the other’s company.

“A Chao Garden…?” the hero wondered.

“Yep,” Lutrudis answered, hands on hips. “You didn’t think we’d have any of our own here?” she asked with a teasing smile.

Sonic said nothing, too caught up with watching the little Chao. Amy and Cream wasted no time in petting and playing with the nearest Chao they could find, and even Cheese greeted himself to them through their own unique language.

“Chao!”

“Chao Chao!”

“Chao Chao?”

“Chao! <3”

As they got along with each other, Tails turned to Lutrudis. “Do you come here often?”

She nodded wistfully. “I love Chao.” She rested one arm on her hand. “They’re such beautiful little creatures… And so calming to one’s senses. I’ve considered having one of my own, actually.”

“Why _haven’t_ you got one?” Sonic questioned, as he crossed his arms.

“I’m not sure if I would make a good parent figure for them…” the horse rubbed her arm, while looking aside. “I don’t really have the experience for that… and I doubt that’ll change anytime soon…”

“Well,_ I _think you’d be great with a Chao,” Sonic gently nudged Lutrudis with a wink.

“Yeah!” Tails agreed. “You’ve treated the rest of us fine, right? You’re nowhere close to having the inhospitality of someone like-”

“Guys, watch out!” Lutrudis suddenly called out to Amy and Cream, after having briefly glanced up at the transparent glass roof. Before they could react however, said glass roof suddenly exploded in a shower of broken shards, which threatened to cause serious damage to everyone within the lobby. Thinking fast, Sonic used his speed to get most of the Chao out of harm’s way, and his four friends followed suit to the best of their own abilities. While the damage had been done to the surrounding area, the Chao were understandably in a state of panicked frenzy.

Sonic looked around to make sure his friends were okay, and he was subsequently relieved to see that Lutrudis had successfully herded all the Chao to a safe corner of the room, and was currently attempting to calm the poor things down. Before he could do anything else though, he immediately sensed another’s presence. He didn’t need to guess who it was. He could already hear the culprit’s voice in his head before it even came out, as he had arguably heard it more times throughout his young life than even his own. Yet sure enough, out it came.

“Well, well, well… Sonic, my old pal. Long time no see, eh?”

The hedgehog looked up with distaste, and there he was, floating above in his signature hovercraft. The man who had caused so much trouble over the years. The man who saw himself as an emperor. The man who had a lifetime score to settle with people a quarter of his age. His two lackeys of questionable usefulness, Orbot and Cubot, were alongside him, as expected.

“Hey, what’s all this commotion?” A burly duck in a suit and tie had walked into the scene, not at all happy with the carnage he had just heard, and certainly not with all the collateral damage. “Do you KNOW how long this will take to clean u-”

The duck immediately froze upon seeing the notorious scientist. He stood there in silence for a few long seconds, as his life flashed before his very eyes. The doctor simply turned to him, awaiting the expected reaction. Cubot was at least friendly enough to wave at him.

“R-R-Robotnik…” he stammered. “Gotta go…!” He promptly bolted out of the room, having cared very much about his own mortality.

“Oh, please, come back!” Eggman called out sarcastically. “I’m only here for a chat!”

“What are you doing here, Eggman?” Sonic asked with apprehension, ready as ever to put up his dukes if necessary. Tails and Amy were likewise quick to prepare themselves.

“What am I doing here?” Eggman pointed at himself with artificial innocence, as if he were hurt by the remark. “Surely the real question is what are _you_ doing here. Must you always be like this, Sonic? Always following me wherever I go?”

“I think you’ve got that the other way around, doc,” Sonic muttered, unimpressed with the man’s fooling around.

“Just tell us your stupid plan already!” Amy complained, gripping firmly on her hammer. “Like you always do!”

“Now now, that’s not how you greet yours truly,” the doctor slowly waved a finger at the temperamental pink hedgehog. “I was just in the mood to visit the Chao that I hold so dear to my heart!”

“Because he wants to kidnap them,” Orbot helpfully added. Eggman wordlessly glared at him.

“Kidnap the Chao…?” Cream contemplated with horror and revulsion. She immediately held Cheese tightly to her chest. “Why would you do such a thing!?”

“Yeah, why_ would_ you do that?” Tails questioned in a more quizzical tone. “What do you need Chao for? You’re always after stuff like the Chaos Emeralds, and you’ve never cared about Chao at all until now…”

“Ah… I don’t think I’ll be telling that,” Eggman leaned back and chuckled deviously. A grin started to appear on his face. “You see, things are a little different this time-”

“Don’t you say that every time?” asked Cubot.

He got smacked in the face for his troubles.

“Things are a little **_different_** this time,” Eggman repeated, looking in Cubot’s direction in annoyance while doing so, before turning back to face the heroes. “If I explained everything right now, I’m afraid none of you would understand any of it! You’d have to reach MY level to get it.” He smugly tapped his bald head, clearly alluding to the genius he prided himself so much on. “So if it’s all the same with you, I think I’ll be taking these girls and boys with me now.”

Sonic was ready to thoroughly jeer at Eggman’s amazing optimism in expecting to do as he pleased without his say in the matter. But before he could do so, another voice spoke out for him.

“You’re not taking any of them.”

Eggman looked confused as he wondered who had dared to say No to someone of his self-appointed stature. He quickly turned his Egg Mobile around, and saw Lutrudis standing in front of every last Chao. Her arms were outstretched, fully indicating that he would have to go through her to get them. The Chao were all terrified.

“Oh, right, you,” the doctor commented. He stroked his right whisker. “I almost forgot about _you._ You’re the new one, aren’t you? The newest_ friend._”

“_~Ooooooh, friend!~_” Orbot overdramatically clasped his hands joyfully.

“_~Friend!~_” Cubot added, and did the same in response.

“You’re not taking these Chao,” Lutrudis reiterated firmly, unflattered by the mockery directed at her.

“Surely you know who I am…?” Eggman asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then you also know what I’m capable of…?

"Yes.”

“And you know full well what I could do to you right here, right now…?”

“…Yes.”

There was an audible hint of anxiousness in the horse’s voice. This was her first face-to-face encounter with the most dangerous criminal in the world. She knew that he could mess her up in unimaginable ways, most likely with the push of a button. There was palpable fear on her face… Yet she remained where she was, not budging for a second. Even if it resulted in misfortune for herself, she refused to hand over the Chao.

“Then why do you dare to oppose me…?”

“Knock it off, Eggman,” Sonic commanded fiercely. His hand began to curl into a fist, and his ears were straight up. His spines also sharpened a tiny bit.

“**_Why_** do you dare to oppose me…?” Eggman repeated, with added emphasis. His face was now inches away from the horse’s own. “What’s your story, _hero?_”

Lutrudis simply glared, despite the fear in her eyes. “No one owes anything to a rotten madman like you.”

“…_Madman…?_” Eggman sneered venomously at her. Orbot and Cubot both shook their heads in fearful unison, explaining to Lutrudis non-verbally that saying such a thing to their master’s face would not end well for anybody.

“Hey, egghead!” Sonic called out impatiently, tapping his foot. “We’re still here, you know! You think WE’RE gonna let you take them?”

Eggman turned to Sonic with irritation. “Right, okay, let’s get one thing sorted out about this 'egghead’ business…!”

While the doctor was distracted, Lutrudis noticed that Cream wasn’t too far from where she was. With a whisper, she called Cream over, to which the rabbit obliged. Kneeling down slowly so as to prevent her leg bones from straining, Lutrudis whispered in Cream’s ear for a few seconds. When she finished, Cream nodded without a word, and she in turn called Amy over with a whisper of her own. Amy briefly looked to make sure that Eggman wasn’t paying attention to her…

“If you absolutely HAVE to make these puns, why not go for something more original? More _refined?_”

…before tip-toeing over rather daintily to her two friends. After Cream whispered to Amy in her ear, the hedgehog nodded too. Eggman still didn’t notice…

“Is this really the best you can think of, hedgehog? Have all those years of getting in my way gotten in YOUR way of coming up with something clever?”

As quickly as she could, Amy grabbed every last Chao, which turned out to be complicated given there were at least a dozen of them. But, not to be underestimated, she had them all in her mighty grasp… or at least, _they_ were grasping _her._ This was then followed by Cream picking Amy up, and flying her out of the scene, taking the Chao along with them.

“…And that’s why you need to come up with more original insults! 'Egghead’ is_ so_ bottom of the barrel! Now then, the Chao…”

Eggman turned once again in Lutrudis’ direction, only to notice her smiling with her hands behind her back, looking as innocent as can be. He also noticed that the Chao had all mysteriously vanished.

“Huh…?”

“Ha! Nice one, Trudy! Catch you later, egghead!” Sonic promptly dashed off further into the building.

“Better luck next time!” Tails added playfully, as he too followed Sonic’s course of action.

After seeing them leave, Eggman stared at Lutrudis with confusion, who simply saluted at him with a smirk.

“See ya.”

And with that, she ran off to follow her friends. As he watched her run off - but not before noticing she ran in a weirdly stilted way - Eggman simply floated in his craft in silence. He crossed his arms in thought.

“Oh dear, looks like you got tricked,” Orbot thought out loud.

“Aw, you’ll get 'em next time, boss,” Cubot reassured. “Unless you lose next time, and the time after that… and the time after that…”

“I don’t know why we’re treating this as a loss,” Eggman simply said, backed up by his surprising degree of calm nonchalance. “I’m still one step ahead, and maybe a few steps more…” He continued looking to where Lutrudis once was, as he gave his moustache another stroke. “Clever girl, that one. But she won’t feel clever for long… Ho ho ho ho…”

“Hey, I heard a lot of noise earlier, what happ-” The pelican that entered the room turned tail and ran out as quickly as he came in. “Oh god, Robotnik’s here! I’m too young to die!”

Eggman merely glanced at where the pelican was, and shrugged to himself.

—

“Where did they take them?” Sonic questioned as he kept jogging.

“To my castle,” Lutrudis replied, trying her absolute best to keep up with him. “It should keep them safe, at least for now.”

“You think they’ll be alright with the Chao?” Tails asked in concern.

“Dude, Cream’s oldest friend is a Chao. They’ve got this.” Sonic looked around the hallway they were running through. It was rather fancy, with dark reds and silvers complimenting the mood, as well as a black and white checkered floor. “So uh, where are we actually going?”

“This takes us to the aquarium,” Lutrudis informed him, while attempting not to sound like she was already out of breath. “I don’t know what use Eggman would have for it, but his robots have been everywhere else so far, so…”

“Ahem, excuse me,” a polar bear with a beard stepped in the way of their path to the entrance of the aquarium. “I’m afraid this area is reserved for _celebrities_ only.”

“What? But…” Sonic didn’t often like to flaunt his world saviour status, but given the potential stakes at hand, it was evident that he didn’t have much of a choice here. “But I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!”

“Oh yeah?” The gruff polar bear raised an eyebrow. “What’s your proof?”

The hero stared at him in silence for a few painful seconds.

“…I’m Sonic the Hedgehog…?”

The bear shrugged. “Can’t argue with that. You may enter.”

The three friends simply looked at each other, each of them as baffled as the other. They soon made their way through the entrance in a single file, and once they were out of the bear’s sight, Tails turned to Lutrudis with one ear lowered.

“Not to be mean, but that guy wasn’t very good at his job, was he?”

“Apparently not,” Lutrudis lightly brushed her ponytail aside to scratch the back of her head. “I don’t recall anything about this place only accepting celebrities… Still, considering the circumstances, we should be grateful for his ineptitude.”

“I just hope we don’t need to make too many dips here,” Sonic added, though his weary tone confirmed that deep down, he already accepted the reality.

Meanwhile, the bear looked behind him to check that they were gone, and upon confirmation, he smiled deviously to himself. All of a sudden, a puff of smoke had engulfed him, complete with a few dramatic sparkles, and when the dust settled, in his place was a droid much like Gunner, only this one wore yellow and a top hat… it seemed to be unable to stop moving its hands around.

“Hmm hmm…!” the robot chortled in a feminine tone, before disappearing in another puff of smoke.

—

** _CR Act 3: Aquarium Gallery_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Blastoid** \- “The good news is that they stay put. The bad news is that they’re often placed in a rather intrusive fashion. Little do they know however that with the help of a certain shield, their projectiles can hardly put up a fight in the slightest.”

**Shelly** \- “Looks like a bog standard seashell, right? Wrong: they may_ look_ all pretty and divine, but the moment you go near it, they’ll clamp down on you like a deranged bear trap. Doesn’t necessarily motivate me to sell seashells on the seashore…”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Crabmeat  
Aquis  
Sweep

This is the friendliest and the deadliest aquarium you’ve seen yet. There are fishies of all shapes and sizes (and colours) here, but as it turns out, some of the normally docile fish have been forcibly turned into mindless killing machines, just like the orca from earlier. You can leave them be if you want to, but freeing them of their armored shells will net you more points, and also make you feel good about yourself.

**Tails: **Why did Eggman do this to these poor fish?

**Sonic: **I don’t know Tails, but I’m not standing for it.

**Lutrudis:** Perhaps they’re being used to guard something from us…

Blastoids make an appearance in this stage, and they’re the same as ever, right down to being rendered inefficient if you have a Water Shield, as you can simply deflect their projectiles away. However, they can still pose a threat, as they’re fond of sitting atop glass roofs that - should their pellets make contact - will break a piece off, potentially sending you into the water below with a mechanized fish for company.

As you progress through the stage, you’ll notice a change of environment. The red and silver halls filled with glass tanks and statues will gradually get phased out in favor of beautiful turquoise caverns, with the ripples of the water reflecting on the cavern walls. Speaking of the water, that too takes up a mildly turquoise hue, as do the stunning waterfalls found all around. Giant seashells rest easy, with funky patterns… just make sure you don’t get them mixed up with Shellies. You can even see a little bit of sunset poke through the holes in the wall. Is this even part of the aquarium? Who cares.

What you_ should _care about is a new force of nature at work: cybernetic sharks, with metal teeth and glowing red eyes. They’re huge, they’re fast, and _you can’t hurt them at all._ You can only evade them, as starting a fight with one will cause them to eat you without a second thought, thus making you die instantly. Don’t you just hate it when an enemy is inexplicably invincible?

But as long as you avoid the robo sharks, you’ll make it out in one piece. The end of the stage takes you outside the caves, showing off the sunset in all its rich glory. The purple and red contrast beautifully with the briny blue sea, but you’re also quick to notice what looks like a dam. It looks… rather old, actually…

—

“Tch, there sure aren’t a shortage of weird buildings around here,” Sonic mused as he examined the rusty dam beyond him. It didn’t look to be of Eggman’s design, but it certainly gave off a creepy atmosphere all the same. Despite that, for all its decay, it was still sturdy enough to keep the nearby water under control. The sunset shined brightly upon the dam.

Tails noticed that the park they were in not too long ago was now a short distance away from where they were at the moment, having spotted it far away from the dam. Those caverns they came through must have been more expansive than they realised.

“Do you think Eggman plans to do anything with _this?_” the young fox asked. His eyes glanced left and right, as if to seek out the evil scientist.

“I can think of some ideas, but I’d rather not blurt them out in case he’s… listening,” Lutrudis answered lightly.

“Good idea,” Sonic added, having also glanced all around for Eggman’s possible whereabouts. “He always appears at the worst times, like back pain.”

“I know the feeling,” Lutrudis joked, as she stretched her arms.

The three of them went further down the path to the dam. The size of the structure impressed them even more the closer they got, and though a relic of an older time it may have been, they couldn’t help but marvel at the effort of construction that went into it. For all their attempts to locate him however, the doctor himself was in fact standing at the very top of the dam. He was on his own, and he looked down at the curious adventurers. He kept watching.

They looked at the entrance with wariness. It _appeared_ to be empty inside, but they knew better than to think they would be so lucky. Sonic turned to his two comrades.

“Well…?” he motioned towards the gate.

His friends simply nodded. Lutrudis had her bow in her hand in preparation for an unexpected attack. As they went inside one by one, Eggman took one of his hands off the nearby railing, and pulled out a communication device from his pocket. He put it right up to his ear.

“Now,” he commanded.

—

** _CR Act 4: Hydro Plant_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Drisame** \- “Watch out for that hammerhead! They hide in walls before leaping out to ambush you, and they also love to shove you into other hazards. If you get them facing upwards though, you can actually stand on them like it’s no big deal. I don’t think that was an intended feature on the doctor’s part…”

**Inkbrink** \- “These elongated squids can poke you with their sharpened noggins. They can also soak you in toxic black sludge, and if you’re REALLY unlucky, that monitor of yours will temporarily get covered in the gunk as well, thus blinding your vision for a brief period. (Incidentally, what exactly _is_ that monitor for…?)”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Crabmeat  
Gameblow  
Lobstrike  
Blastoid

It’s quiet here. Possibly a little_ too_ quiet, if one were to be cliche. Well at least you’re given a chance to breathe. Though the inside of this old dam is a tad dreary and full of shadows, you don’t have to deal with too much at first. There aren’t even that many enemies. For now, use the conveyor belts to go even faster, which still work perfectly fine despite their age. You can even stop to look at the occasional bit of graffiti, which includes inspiring quotes like:

_Stand Up 2 The Pain + Turmoil_

_Toot Toot Sonic Warrior_

_All Hail Shadow_

_For The Mania_

_justice for kidd_

One of them is tragically spelled incorrectly:

_Make belif reborn_

Anyway, as you go further down, it gets darker, but not to the point where you can’t see anything. There’s the occasional robot hiding around, mainly Drisames, but hardly anything for you to worry about. The sunset once again seeps through the few windows here, but don’t get too enraptured. It might feel like a maze, but Lutrudis tends to go the right way, so just follow her if you’re as clueless as a grey hedgehog during his debut.

It’s subtle at first, but you might begin to notice that the area is growing slowly more high tech. The near-withered bricks and stones are gradually exchanged for silver metal, some of which is shiny enough to show a reflection. It dawns on you that this is the heart of the plant, and what’s keeping it functioning despite appearing to have seen better days from an outsider’s point of view. This is where the enemies ramp up in presence… along with underwater dives, to Sonic’s misfortune. He even expresses envy when Lutrudis shows herself to be highly skilled at swimming by comparison.

**Sonic:** I really gotta learn how to swim sometime…

**Lutrudis:** I can teach you if you’d like… y'know, when this is over.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a problem if you picked Tails, since he _can_ swim. But you can still make it with the blue one. Just be sure to keep grabbing those bubbles for air regardless of who you’re playing as. Inkbrinks and Lobstrikes can be troublesome in the tunnel sections here, but if you get an Inkbrink’s sludge on you, it’ll disappear after five seconds… better hope you don’t run into _another_ one during that time. There’ll be no S Rank for you anytime soon if_ that _keeps happening.

As you get closer to the end, you can spot a very complex, towered structure in the distance, full of bright green lights that contrast with the blue and silver all around. Some of Eggman’s minions seem to be making an attempt to break it down, but you’re not having any of that. Beat them up, and you’ll hear the doctor himself chime in:

**Eggman:** You bothered to come all the way down here? I expected nothing less from you fools… but at least this will be entertaining to watch now! DROWN them, Crabgrind!

Right on cue, a crab mecha of intimidating stature bursts out of the ground like a possessed drill. It immediately starts drilling away at the structure, and it doesn’t take long for the heroes to realise what the intention is:

**Tails:** Wait a minute… this is the heart of the dam… he’s trying to cause a flood from the inside!

**Sonic: **And it’ll seep through to the outside… we gotta end this fast!

**BOSS: Crabgrind**

Don’t let the name fool you, it looks nothing like a Crabmeat. It’s more like a hermit crab in design, if the shell had a bunch of spikes all over. Mix that in with a couple of drill pincers, and you’ve got a formidable beast. At least it’s slow… right…?

This is NOT a timed fight in the traditional sense, despite the current urgent situation, but you’ll want to do it as quickly as you can anyway, because the longer you keep at it, the longer Crabgrind will get to drill through the structure, and the more water will fill the arena, which will of course reduce your speed a little. There will be air bubbles if it gets to that point, but… try not to let it get to that point, okay?

As for the fight itself, Crabgrind may be focused on the structure, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have time to spare for_ you. _As it does its work, it’ll fire the spikes off its shell like pointy missiles in an attempt to keep you away from its job. Due to the size of the spikes, they’re actually rather tough to avoid, especially if you’re avoiding them underwater. It’s not impossible, though. A well timed spin dash is enough to do the trick. If you try getting closer to the shelled monster, it’ll use one of its pincers with the intention of drilling through your fleshy body. This is fortunately not shown in realistic detail. You can knock the pincer back to prevent the attack, but that won’t damage it. What’s the secret?

Like the Paindozer, Lutrudis is your key. In the brief period that Crabgrind’s spikes are detached from its shell before gaining a new set of them, you can spot some fragile-looking wiring through the holes. Lutrudis will try to shoot an arrow through one of those holes, but Crabgrind will in turn try to attack her if she does so… unless you’ve got it distracted. Reflect its pincer a couple of times, and that’ll be enough time for Lutrudis to fire an arrow through a hole without issue. Upon getting an arrow lodged inside, Crabgrind will start spinning around in a frenzy to try and get it out, while firing its spikes more erratically all the while, before clumsily falling on its side… revealing a weakpoint on its underside. Give that a whack to damage the mecha.

This carries on initially, with not much variation bar the expected longer periods of attacking, and ramping up the defensiveness… After six hits however, things take a dramatic turn…

**Eggman:** Hmm, this is getting a little boring now… Time for Plan B, Crabgrind! Ha ha HA!

Without warning, Crabgrind will cease attacking the structure… and instead lunge straight for you and Lutrudis, knocking you into a conveniently placed chute where you’re constantly sliding along the current. You may be reminded of certain adventures from an earlier period, but now is not the time to dwell on the past, for Crabgrind will now use its shell to poke through the water and shank you. You can tell where it’ll appear by spotting the bubbles that briefly pop beforehand. Even then, this demented game of Reverse Whack a Mole can be hectic. Keep your nerves under control, and you’ll be smooth sailing.

Again, Lutrudis is your key. After several rounds of it popping in and out, Lutrudis will use all her strength to straight up grab one of its pincers with enough grip to actually slow it down temporarily, to the point where she’s now surfing along the water with her feet. An impressive display, but not an easy one for her…

**Lutrudis:** Quickly…! I can’t hold on for long… not with these bones…!

While she’s grabbing one pincer, Crabgrind will go multi-purpose again and launch the other one at you in confused rage. Dodge the drill, notice the exposed point in the now empty pincer, and give it mayhem. This will take that pincer out of commission for good, though it will still hang there and limp along. Repeat this procedure with the other pincer, and then - with both pincers rendered unusable - Crabgrind will lose its mind and fire all of its spikes everywhere, without even bothering to aim at you. You don’t even need to wait for an arrow at this point. Wait for a hole in the shell, jump through and attack his core, and watch as the once fearsome crustacean slowly sinks one last time. Tragic… if it weren’t a mindlessly evil machine.

—

“Okay, that’s the crab down, but now what!?” Tails asked in fright as they continued getting swept away along the tunneled river. The current was too fast to handle, even for Sonic.

“Relax!” Sonic grinned sheepishly, clearly hoping this wouldn’t kill him. “What life or death situation _haven’t_ we gotten out of? We made it out of the fake emerald ordeal in one-”

“Look out!” Lutrudis pointed with wide eyes.

“Oh sh-”

A barrier had appeared at the end of the tunnel, which sent them flying over it, and through to outside civilization… represented in this case by more sea. Sonic was especially unlucky to have banged his head on the barrier, which knocked him out hard. His unconcious body began to sink in the sea, as Tails and Lutrudis came to their senses.

“Sonic!” Tails panicked. He and Lutrudis immediately swam below to grab him, but their own fatigue from their experience proved to be an issue. Thinking quickly, Lutrudis snapped her fingers. She motioned for Tails to grab her from behind, which he did. She pulled out her whip, closed one eye to aim as best as she could, and launched the whip in the drowning hedgehog’s direction.

As luck would have it, the whip latched onto Sonic’s leg. Lutrudis turned her head to Tails and nodded. Tails nodded himself in response. Using their combined strength, they pulled, and pulled, and pulled… and they pulled just a little bit too much, for Sonic’s body was suddenly sent flying out of the water and into the air. Their eyes bulged in disbelief upon witnessing this, and Lutrudis pointed up frantically. Getting the message, Tails shot out of the water like a turbo submarine.

Meanwhile, Sonic was beginning to regain consciousness.

“Huh…?”

He was quick to notice he was falling back down to the sea.

“AHHH!”

Mercifully though, Sonic’s initial panic came to a halt as Tails grabbed him. Sonic looked left and right in puzzlement, then looked up to see Tails’ relieved face. He looked at his foxy friend for a second, then gave him a sheepish thumbs up.

“Is he alright?” Lutrudis called out to Tails from below.

“He’s fine,” Tails answered. “Just a little dazed.”

“Yeah…” Sonic muttered in agreement, as Tails hovered down to pick up Lutrudis. The horse grabbed onto the hedgehog’s legs, and they began to fly away together.

“What happened…?” Sonic wondered.

“You, uh, nearly drowned,” Tails awkwardly explained.

“Oh… well it’s a good thing I didn’t. Thanks, guys.” Sonic then thought to himself for a moment, then looked down at Lutrudis with a lighthearted smirk. “I don’t suppose there was any mouth to mouth?”

“Oh no, no, not at all,” she shook her head lightly. She looked down for a moment, and then looked back up. She smirked as well. “But I could give you that, if you want…”

Sonic paused abruptly. He looked like a deer in the headlights.

Lutrudis laughed. “I’m kidding,” she gently teased him, to which the blue one chuckled somewhat bashfully. “Let’s head back to the castle. Amy and Cream may be good with Chao, but there was still a lot of them. We better help them out.”

“Right!” Tails obeyed. As they began their journey back, Sonic couldn’t help but look down at Lutrudis once again. This time around, his expression was that of warm amusement.

Less amusing was who was spying on them from afar… Eggman watched them fly away in the comfort of his Egg Mobile. Despite witnessing the miserable defeat of his minion, he appeared to be in a good mood. He floated away in a different direction, smiling fiendishly to himself all the while.


	6. Mountains and Molehills

“Sorry for the mess…” Amy apologised while she rubbed the back of her head, in reference to the state of slight disarray in Lutrudis’ castle. Some of the curtains in the hallway had been pulled off by well-meaning Chao, while others had somehow gotten paint all over the walls.

“Don’t sweat it,” the horse casually dismissed with a hand and a smile. “There’s a lot of these little guys to keep track of. As long as they’re safe, I can live with a bit of mess. Where’s Cream?”

“Oh, she’s in the library. I figured you wouldn’t mind if she looked around in there…?” The pink hedgehog put her hands behind her back, and she paced her leg to and fro ever so slightly. “She wanted to read the Chao a story.”

Lutrudis didn’t say anything to that. Her smile simply grew warmer.

“So uh, what’s next?” asked Sonic, as he tapped his foot. “Where’s our next destination?”

They all went silent. They contemplated where Eggman could possibly be targeting next, or at the very least where there could be heavy robot activity. They_ still_ hadn’t seen that mysterious monster since their initial encounter either…

“I just thought of something,” Tails spoke up, as a lightbulb metaphorically lit up in his head. “When I read the brochure for Viridonia, there was mention of a mountain that contained crystals. Could those crystals be connected to the ones Lutrudis showed us…?”

“The mountain in Zephyr Valley?” Lutrudis questioned. “I’ve never been up there myself, cause… you know…” She sheepishly motioned towards her fragile body. “But the idea’s certainly worth pursuing. And come to think of it, I _should_ have a book about that mountain somewhere in the library…”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Sonic rubbed his hands excitedly, with a grin on his face. Evidently, he couldn’t wait to get back to the adventure, and teach that Eggman a thing or two.

“Yes, of course, right away.” With that, everyone followed Lutrudis as she directed the way to her library. Despite the mess caused by the Chao, they couldn’t help but be charmed by the crude paintings they discovered along some of the walls, even if they couldn’t necessarily understand what they were supposed to represent half the time.

“It’s just in here,” Lutrudis held the fancy door out of courtesy. As her three friends made their way in, Sonic and Tails took a moment to take in the scene, while Amy went to check on Cream. Lutrudis’ library was quite possibly the biggest they had ever seen. They were sure they had seen _public_ libraries less sizable than the one they were in right this moment. Tall rows to the left, tall rows to the right, and there was no slacking in the decoration department either. The maroon walls created a fitting atmosphere, and the potted plants dotted along the perimeters added an extra bit of colour to the surroundings.

“Now, where could it be…” Lutrudis muttered to herself as they slowly analysed each row one by one. Books of all kinds could be spotted, fiction or otherwise, though it seemed the horse had a particular preference for bold tales of exciting adventure. Having a fondness for reading himself, Sonic was suitably impressed by the vast selection, though he kept a watchful eye on one book in particular that involved a king named Arthur…

Tails was even more dazzled. He said nothing, but his frantic head turning and wide smile said it all for him.

“This is the one where I store all my info about this place,” Lutrudis pointed to the row in question, with her other hand on her hip. She was about to bring out that intriguing gold whip once again as she walked up to the row, but Tails was two steps ahead and used his namesake to help her reach what she was looking for.

“Heh, thanks,” she said sweetly, before she turned her attention to the books in front of her. Her eyes slowly moved from left to right, observing a bunch of info logs about the many areas in Viridonia. The deserts, the beaches, the north…

“Ah, here’s the one,” her eyes lit up as she pulled out the appropriate book, before Tails gently lowered her down. Sonic, upon noticing they were ready, quickly hid the book he had already started reading while they were doing all that behind a cushion.

“Well?” he asked.

“Going through it_ riiiiiight_ now.” Lutrudis put the book on the nearby table and opened it up, breezing through the different pages involving Zephyr Valley’s climate and points of interest. She was almost as quick at turning pages as Sonic was at running, much to his and Tails’ bemusement. After a few seconds of quick page turning, she suddenly stopped at a certain page.

“Here we are. Zephyr Mountain.” Her finger trailed along the text she was reading aloud. “Known as one of the tallest mountains in the world, Zephyr Mountain has gained public interest over the years for not only its impressive scale, but also its materials. Though few have been daring enough to climb the peaks, those who have, and lived to tell the tale, have reported sightings of crystals within the mountain’s deep caverns. Of these stories across the decades, one description shared among them is that the crystals radiate an aura of power should one be in close contact of them…”

“That’s it then,” Sonic stood up. “They must be the same kind of crystals as the ones Trudy has. And there’s no way Eggman _doesn’t_ know about them.”

“At least we know for sure now,” Tails added. “Guess that’s the next place for us, huh?”

Lutrudis walked past them and around the corner, and discovered that Cream was reading a book to a small group of fascinated Chao. Cheese was resting on her shoulder, and another Chao was inexplicably resting on her left ear… not that she seemed to mind. Amy was quietly leaning against the wall beside her, smiling at her friend’s narration. The girls caught sight of Lutrudis raising her hand slightly, as if to gain permission to interrupt the story. The Chao all glanced at her in near perfect unison. Some of them looked rather annoyed at having their story interrupted.

“We’ve planned our next course of action, and we’re headed to Zephyr Valley.” She paused out of what appeared to be slight frustration with herself. “I hate to ask you two to stay with the Chao again, but if Eggman or one of his robots ends up coming here while we’re away…”

“Oh, it’s okay Lutrudis!” Cream smiled politely. “We understand.”

“Yeah, Eggman’s not getting his hands on a single one of these cuties.” Amy stroked the head of the Chao beside her. “Not on our watch.”

“Thanks, girls,” Lutrudis replied, and clasped her hands and held them close to her chest as she began to walk backwards. She eventually turned direction. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“Well yeah,” Sonic interjected with some sass. He pointed at himself with palpable pride. “Fastest thing alive, remember?”

Lutrudis simply rolled her eyes with a charmed smile as she and Sonic made their way out of the library, followed by Tails. After they were gone, Cream went back to reading her story to the Chao… but not before showing a bit of confusion on her face upon reading a certain page, which was then followed by her turning to Amy with that same look of confusion.

“What’s a Darkspine…?”

—

** Zephyr Valley Zone **

** _ZV Act 1: Alpine Campgrounds_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:**  
**Madmole **\- “Out from small holes come these metallic moles, to throw rocks and give you a… not so much a bad time, but rather a mildly odious one.”

**Iwrecks** \- “Don’t let the superficial innocence of these goats fool you. They may frolic along, but they’re every bit as likely to make a shish kebab out of you with those horns.”

**Scaramander** \- “Those lizards have awfully long tongues! Better swerve with caution if you want to avoid a saliva-dripped swipe… ugh.”

The sun is still setting, and stars are beginning to twinkle in the sky. The perfect backdrop for a relaxing spot of camping… if it weren’t for all the deadly traps, and the killer robots, and the urgent need to stop a madman from doing unspeakable evil. That’ll probably lower it to three stars in the tourist reviews.

Still, you’ve gotta admire the setting. The green hills are teeming with glittering lakes, and deep woodlands. Tents of all shapes and sizes can be found throughout, some of which you can actually enter (and get shouted at for invading the owners’ privacy). Though it’s far from winter, you can spot a bit of snow on the faraway peaks… Too bad none of those are the peak we’re after. Be careful not to get too distracted by the view, or else you might find yourself legless after walking straight into one of Eggman’s cleverly placed bear traps… for hedgehogs… and foxes… and horses… they’re all the same species, apparently.

Of the enemies here, Scaramanders are the worst, as it’s very easy to underestimate just how far their tongues can reach, let alone how quick they are. That said, don’t be too careless with the Iwrecks either, as they’re fast in their own right too. They tend to hide behind beautiful waterfalls as well, the sneaky devils.

Halfway through, you’ll discover a huge concert that’s pretty bangin’. Inconvenient as it may be, you’ll have to make your way through the crowds upon crowds of ambiguously inebriated individuals. Watch out for flying beer bottles, and the sneaky Madmoles hiding amongst the crowds. Hope your eardrums aren’t too sensitive, cause the music’s pretty loud in this concert. Music sounds familiar though… something about living life…?

**Sonic: **Pretty neat concert, eh?

**Tails:** If it weren’t for Eggman, I wouldn’t mind listening to a few tunes!

**Lutrudis: **Could do without the stench of alcohol though…

Hilariously enough, no one actually notices that Sonic the Hedgehog himself is in the audience, as these excitable music enthusiasts are much too focused on partying till the day is over… and questioning themselves on their knowledge of the band currently playing.

“Did these guys do His World, or was that another band…?”

Little do the heroes know however, that one member of the crowd is actually the disguised form of a certain eccentric nemesis, who is keeping watch on their progress. If it weren’t for everyone else’s intoxication, they might have noticed their fellow mate transforming into a top hat-donning robot…

You’ll know you’re nearing the end of the stage when you reach a small town boasting impressively-sized windmills. Far from the bustling hijinks of the concert, this town is perfectly tranquil, though you have to wonder if anyone in town complained about the noise. You can use the windmills as additional platforms, but be sure to keep watch of your footing, lest their slow turning forces you to fall off.

And voila, you’ve made it to the base of the gargantuan Zephyr Mountain. Now it’s a matter of scaling it… which will prove to be easier said than done…

—

** _ZV Act 2: Zephyr Mountain_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Grounder** \- “A miniature titan of pointy proportions, these deadly drillers love to use the element of surprise for a quick ambush.”

**Ack** \- “If I didn’t already know the answer, I’d wonder who names these beasts… In any case, these yaks are fond of headbutting particularly fragile walls, which in turn results in an onslaught of debris from above.”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Madmole  
Iwrecks  
Scaramander

Get ready for a climb. This mountain ain’t regarded as one of the biggest in the world for no reason, and many have sadly perished in their own attempts to scale the structure. Sonic may like the thrill of adventure, but could this be too much even for him?

…No, probably not. But it’s still perilous all the same.

The terrain alters a little depending on how high up you are. In the lowest parts of the mountain, there’s still grass and trees, which those accursed Scaramanders have a tendency to hide behind. As you go further up however, the grass starts to disappear in favor of hard blue rock, and rickety bridges that look as though they could give way at any moment. Not to say it isn’t nice to look at though, as proven false by the crystal clear waterfalls you see near some of the bridges.

You’ll also explore inside a few airy caverns here and there. Don’t get your hopes up though, there are no crystals in these caves. But there_ are _waves upon waves of Grounders to make your day miserable, as well as heart-pumping boulder traps. (Though if you’re cunning enough, you can_ just_ make it over oncoming boulders with Tails’ flight.)

**Sonic: **Ha ha! Isn’t this great?

**Tails: **…No?

But the worst obstacle comes when you’re suitably high up. One of the most notorious video game gimmicks makes its presence here… wind physics.

You might think this should be no trouble at all for someone who can run at the speed of sound, and in some cases, it’s not. But that doesn’t mean you can afford to be careless, because the wind has a tendency to be at its strongest exactly when you’re near the edge of a cliff. Failure to keep caution will result in you falling down, bumping your head, and Jill tumbling after. And you still need to deal with the other dangers on top of all that. Acks in particular can be a nightmare during sections with heavy wind, as the rocky debris they summon can distract you from keeping your footing.

When you’re roughly halfway up the mountain, you’ll suddenly be ambushed by a huge metal boulder busting its way out of a stone wall. Upon closer inspection however, it’s not a boulder… it’s a mecha armadillo.

**BOSS: Killerdillo**

Name says it all. It wants to kill you. Don’t let it. You’ve got so much to live for.

Like the Paindozer, you’re the one being chased rather than the one giving chase. The Killerdillo will spend most of its time spinning, not unlike your very own spin dash. It’s pretty fast for a big bot too, and when put together with the narrow cliffsides and the weak bridges it’s chasing you along, the odds do not appear to be stacked in your favor. And if _that_ wasn’t bad enough, it has a pair of laser cannons on its sides that can not only sweep the ground near you, but also strike the walls and cause an avalanche of rocks. And it doesn’t stop in place while using its lasers mind you,_ it keeps rolling._

The best course of action? The trail occasionally has bombs for you to contend with. Evidently, they were put there to get rid of you, and you _can_ get hurt by them, but you can also use them against your enemy. When you’re far away enough to have time to do so, quickly spin dash a bomb to send it flying towards Killerdillo. The bomb will explode, and Killerdillo will stop and get dizzy, because Eggman decided dizziness was necessary to program into his creations. Give its confused little head a whack, and it’ll howl like a metallic banshee.

You’re not expected to do much more than that in this fight, due to its already hectic nature. But of course, the difficulty ramps up with each hit. Bombs become less frequent, avalanches and lasers become _more_ frequent, and more sections of the ground start to give way and crumble into nothing. On the other hand, you’ll also notice that Killerdillo’s shell gets more cracked with each bomb. Keep up the bomb and whack routine, and eventualy its shell will fall apart completely. It’ll valiantly try to roll at you one last time anyway, but at this point, you can easily deflect it with your own spin dash, and it’ll get sent flying off the cliff and into the tree-filled depths below. It would almost be tragic, but luckily for us, robots don’t have souls… right…?

—

“Man, this mountain really is as big as they said,” Sonic remarked as Tails carried him over the dangerous gaps. “You’d think we’d be at the top by now, sheesh… You okay there, Trudy?”

“Yeah,” she answered as she used her whip to pull herself up a couple of ledges. After the incident with the giant crab, she was getting better at using it creatively for life-or-death situations.

“You know we can pull you up too, right?” The hedgehog pointed up at Tails.

“I know. But I like… _doing._” She used the whip on another ledge. “I don’t want to inconvenience you when it’s not necessary.”

“It wouldn’t be an inconvenience…” Tails mentioned out of concern.

“Yeah, you’re not in our way or anything,” Sonic added in a friendly tone.

“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter, since we’re here now…” They had reached a large section of flat ground, which Tails set Sonic down on. The wind was getting more chilly, and appropriately enough, they could see a few mounds of snow in the vicinity due to how high up they were.

“Eggman’s definitely doing something up here,” Tails pointed to the metal structures from a distance away. Up above, higher up the peak, more structures could be seen, and giant drills were burrowing through the white blankets. There appeared to be a mining operation at work.

“As if_ that’s_ a surprise, he’s always trying to mess up Mother Nature,” Sonic muttered with a clenched fist… His ears suddenly pointed upward, and he paused for a moment, as if he realised something he’d rather not.

“You know…” he started, sounding slightly embarrassed. “We could have made it up here in no time with the Tornado.”

An awkward silence briefly ensued between the three of them.

“Yeah…” Tails rubbed his ear sheepishly, clearly having never thought of that idea either.

“Where did you leave the Tornado?” Lutrudis questioned as they walked along the increasingly snowy ground. “Is it still in the shore?”

“Yes,” Sonic and Tails bluntly answered in unison.

“But what if it’s not there when we return?” She tugged on her ponytail a little. “What if some ruffian tries to make off with it?”

Tails simply smirked to himself.

—

Meanwhile, the Tornado remained parked in the same spot in Lime Shores. A chimp wearing black and white stripes walked up to the plane whilst he let out an innocent whistle. He looked to his left, and to his right, to make sure the coast was clear… He rubbed his hands in glee, and put his hand on the vehicle.

** _BZZZT_ **

“Oooh, aah!” The chimp waved his hand frantically after experiencing the unexpected jolt. He gave it another bold attempt.

** _BZZZT_ **

“Oooooh, aaaah!” he shouted again, waving the other arm in a frenzy. Frustrated, he kicked the plane in anger.

** _BZZZT_ **

“Oooooooh, aaaaaah!”

—

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Tails confirmed, trying his best not to look too pleased with himself. “Let’s just say I took some precautions.”

“Well, we’ve already made it this high up, so let’s keep going!” Sonic motivated his friends with a thumbs up. Tails nodded in approval, and gave a thumbs up in turn.

“Yes, let’s,” Lutrudis beamed, and sighed happily as she wrapped her hands around the back of her neck. “I know it’s silly, with all this danger and urgency, but I like being out here. I never dreamed I’d actually climb this place in my life!”

“Scared of the height?” Sonic nudged her playfully.

“Well, maybe a little bit… But it feels good! No, great even! It comes with feeling so… _alive,_ right?” She turned to Sonic, her smile still there.

Sonic looked at Lutrudis for a few moments. Despite all her differences, it seemed as time went on that she was more like himself than he initially realised. Perhaps it was her isolation that made her craving go stronger. Or maybe she would have expressed this sentiment one way or the other. Whatever the case may be, he took notice of her own apparent love for exploring the unknown.

“Yeah,” he answered with a gentle smile. “That’s the spirit.”

Unbeknownest to them, the top hatted robot was still watching them from not too far away. Its hands continued to shake rhythmically.

—

** _ZV Act 3: Zephyr Peak_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Heaveman** \- “Careful with these ones… One foot on their flipper is all it takes for them to flip you off a cliff. They’re fast, too… but not as fast as you, of course.”

**Yodel Pawn** \- “Well they certainly look the part, and they sound the part, but these white Pawns would much rather make short work of you with their pickaxes… Is that better or worse…?”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Madmole  
Scaramander  
Grounder  
Ack

No, this is not **the** snow level._ That_ zone will come in due time. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

You do nonetheless have some frosty aesthetics to work with on the final stretch of the mountain. The cliffs are still blue, but now they’re partially coated with snow. Surprisingly, you can still see a little bit of grass here and there among the snow. The lowering sun is reflecting beautifully off the peaks, and the clouds don’t seem to be that far from your position either. If they were solid, you’d almost want to try and touch them. The stars above the sunset continue to shine proudly.

But it’s not just visual smoke and mirrors. With the presence of snow and ice comes the expected gimmicks. Mercifully, you _don’t_ have to deal with wind physics anymore, but you _do _have to deal with something even worse, something that makes many a grown man weep out of fear…_ **ice**_ _physics._ Since Sonic and Co aren’t your typical platforming heroes however, you can deal with it a little easier than most of your kind. Just keep control of your speed, and you’ll be golden.

The operations found all over the peak are predictably a major hazard. Drills can be found everywhere, as can the Yodel Pawns and their dreadful singing.

**Sonic: **Pfft, talk about a swan song, am I right?

**Tails and Lutrudis:** _*No reaction at all because they can’t hear him over the drills.*_

During the instances where you climb along the metal towers, sawblades will come back and forth. But by far, the most worrisome of the threats are the Heavemen. Do you want to get chucked off the mountain, and be forced to climb the same sections all over again if you’re not already dead? Then don’t fool around with these guys. Deal with them swiftly and efficiently.

Towards the end, you start to see… lava? Not a huge amount granted, but somewhat troubling to be sure. Don’t ask me how the lava doesn’t immediately melt the snow right beside it, I’m not a video game geologist. At least the lava is fairly calm for the moment, but it does indicate the increase of volcanic activity due to Eggman’s operations. In any case, as another famous hedgehog would say, don’t touch it.

Congratulations! You made it to the top of Zephyr Mountain! Not many people have done that, so be sure to give yourself a gold star when you get home. But we’re not done quite yet…

—

_ **ZV Act 4: Mountain Minery** _

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
Bat Brain** \- “Beware the bats emerging from the shadows, for when they awaken from their slumber, they waste no time in fiendishly… flying around for a bit. I suppose they’re annoying if you’re in a tight area.”

**Toasty** \- “Heaven knows why the doctor saw fit to give welding torches the gift of life, but they’re all very willing to roast you all the same.”

**Returning Enemies:**  
Grounder  
Heaveman

It’s kinda dark, but there’s more than enough bulbs and torches for you to see the way. Inside the mine are your trickiest challenges yet. A few lone mushrooms decorate the entrance, as do a bunch of wooden gates that you can easily slice through. The mine looks as though it were abandoned a long time ago… but it _can’t _be abandoned because Eggman’s robots are right here, doing their thing… Something doesn’t seem right…

Conveyor belts have piles upon piles of crates stacked on them, delivering who knows what to who knows where. The crates are adorned with the famous Eggman insignia…

**Sonic: **Good thing he signed them. We wouldn’t have _possibly _known otherwise…

Stationary crates can also be found all over, some of which you can knock over onto unsuspecting robots if you’re feeling school bully levels of vindictive. The fans that are used to clear the thick air can push you into bottomless pits if you’re not careful, and since the volcanic activity has increased, that means there’s lava indoors as well, albeit still not enough for it to be a full-on fire stage.

Along the brown and purple walls are markings, not unlike the ones you saw in the Gleaming Meadows. One marking in particular is hard to make out due to the dark environment, but you can see what looks like several people gathering round… and a huge round object floating above them… Are they worshipping something…? Are they in fear of something…?

Mine carts can also be found, and yes, you get to have a go on them. You can switch to different rails with the simple push of left or right, and you can jump over sawblades, wooden blockades, and oncoming Egg Pawns riding their own mine carts. If you’re lucky, you can slam into them from the side and send them flying out of their carts, complete with flailing arms and comedic hollering.

After a lengthy trek through the tunnels of flickering lights, dusty crates, and evil welding torches, you’ll start to notice the very crystals you were looking for. Sure enough, they look just like the ones in the cave below Lutrudis’ home… only they’re all completely grey, with no other colour to speak of. Also, are those fossils on those walls…?

Before you can think more about what you’re processing, you suddenly hear a cry. A very happy, very excited, very _loud _cry.

“YAAAAAAAAYYYY!”

**Lutrudis: **What was that-

**Sonic:** I know that-!

Right on cue, the ground starts to give way. Do your best to escape the growing abyss, lest you never see the light again. As you run through another tunnel, you can see a reflection of a purple robot wielding a mace that looks twice as large. They’re also riding a certain type of ladybug…

**Rider:** HURRAAAAYYYY!

**BOSS: Heavy Rider**

Uh oh, the adrenaline junkie’s here, and I don’t mean Sonic. This is gonna be a crazy one, not just because of who you’re fighting, but also due to the haywire surroundings. Rider, with the help of Jimmy the Motobug, will stop at nothing to get a thrill, and that largely involves making things very inconvenient and fatal for you. It’s nothing personal, she doesn’t hate you… she just gets very into the action. Like when you’re in a cowboy movie, but you use an actual gun and risk a prison sentence to make it more authentic. That’s her. That’s Rider.

You and Rider are breezing through the shadowy tunnels, and the rock formations are shaped for the benefit of you** and** her. With slopes, you can gain momentum, and she can attack you from above. With steep declines, you can build up speed, and she can drag her mace along the ground, creating massive fissures in the process. Her mace may be a single tool, but it’s a very versatile one.

If you’re behind, she’ll swing her mace round and round, each swing further than the last. If you’re in front, Jimmy will leave behind trails of fire with his engine. And all the while, rocks are falling everywhere, and everyone’s bouncing and tumbling over… just the way Rider likes it.

What’s the strategy? Well, you’re older now. And what can you do now that you’re older?

That’s right.

_Grind._

See that chain connecting the mace?

…Yeah. I think you get my drift.

When Rider swings her mace directly at you, quickly jump onto the chain and grind along it, and top it off with a ball of blue fur (or orange fur) to the face. This will knock her off Jimmy and send her plummeting… but don’t think it’s a one hit kill, for the brave and loyal Jimmy will use its new rockets to fly down and pick her back up.

**Rider:** HA!

Rider favors excitement over sound battle plans, so her actual methods barely change throughout the fight. It’s the environment that will throw curveballs your way, with different slopes, pits of lava, and some mine cart manning Egg Pawns for good measure. That said, Jimmy’s flame trails will gradually get bigger with every two hits. Nothing too unavoidable though. Not with your speed.

With eight hits, and one last scream of robo-ecstasy, both Rider and Jimmy will crash through a wall, and they won’t come back out. Heavies have proven to be persistent _and_ resilient though, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing them again soon enough…

—

“Everyone alright?” Sonic took a moment to stop as he checked his pulse. Amazingly, the fastest thing alive sounded as though he was nearly out of breath.

“Yeah…” Tails barely let out after huffing and puffing. Lutrudis wasn’t even able to catch her breath, as she was looking straight at the ground with her hands on her knees in complete exhaustion. She was at least able to muster a thumbs up.

“Now Sonic, I don’t quite appreciate you stopping this operation!”

“Eggman…?”

The doctor floated down in his Egg Mobile, along with Orbot and Cubot. Despite seemingly not being pleased about Sonic’s actions, his spirits were still remarkably high. “You’ve always been quick to catch on to my activities, haven’t you? Can’t even take a bunch of lovely little crystals without your interference.”

“So you WERE planning to take the crystals!” Tails accused with a pointed finger.

“Well duh, I just said that.” Eggman glanced at Orbot and pointed his thumb at the fox while shaking his head sarcastically.

“What are you using them for?” Lutrudis inquired, hoping that the doctor would fall for the trap and blurt it out. Her tail flicked a little aggressively.

“Don’t fall for it, boss,” Orbot whispered in his master’s ear.

“I wasn’t going to,” Eggman muttered out of annoyance, and crossed his arms. “Find out for yourselves if you’re so curious… If you survive, that is.”

“Huh?”

Sonic’s ears spiked up, as he noticed a strange mist. Black mist. Very familiar black mist. It emerged from the shadows of the mine, and swirled around Eggman slowly. Eggman himself showed no fear, and was in fact grinning widely. A head began to form above the defended scientist, and it took on a reptilian appearance… just like last time. Only this time, it looked different. It now had black spikes poking out from the sides of its head, which were connected together with dark green liquid of some sort, creating the illusion that it had frills. Its horns were also larger, and longer.

“I_ trust_ you’ve met my newest associate…” Eggman commented gleefully.

“Yeah, we have. And we’d like to know what its deal is.” Sonic stretched his arms out, ready to fight. “Another monster you freed? Like THAT’S ever gone well for you.”

Eggman simply laughed. It was a quiet, dark laugh, not at all like his usual diabolical cackle. His opposition all felt uneasy by this. So did Cubot.

“I’ve learned my lesson this time,” he explained, still grinning all the while. “More than you know…”

“What do you mean-”

“Now then!” Eggman clapped his hands merrily, like a kid getting ready for Christmas. “Let’s see how you fools do against… the Wraith!”

“The Wraith…?”

With a mighty roar, the dark beast lunged at all three of the heroes, and crashed into them so hard against the wall that it broke apart completely, sending them falling out of the mountain’s caverns entirely.

“And this… is only the beginning…” Eggman muttered to himself, staring at the hole in the wall where his enemies once were, with a demented display of his perfect white teeth.

“Beginning of what…?” Cubot asked absent-mindedly.

“Big adult matters,” Orbot helpfully explained as he pat Cubot on the head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh… okay!”

—

Sonic, Tails and Lutrudis were all plummeting towards the ground, where rocky cliffs and metallic pipes were waiting for them. They tried to control their fall, but to no avail. Even Tails couldn’t control his fall enough to start flying, for he was tumbling over and over so aggressively.

“Can you fly, Tails?” Sonic called out.

“I’m trying…!”

“Don’t panic! We’ll make it out of this!”

“Guys!” Lutrudis called, having spotted a narrow piece of rock below. “Grab onto me!”

With a little effort to fight against the wind, they grabbed onto her, and she unleashed her whip on the thin strand of rock. It latched onto the rock with no problem, and it caught them just fine… but the sudden jolt of movement caused Tails to slide down and catch Sonic’s leg, who in turn caught the unfortunate Lutrudis’ ponytail, resulting in her facing upside down. Despite the obvious pain and slight embarrassment she was currently in, the horse kept her iron grip on her whip, and gripped it even further with her boots. After a brief moment of them collecting themselves, Sonic chuckled out of relief.

“Heh,” he said lightheartedly. “Can’t get any worse than that, right?”

Cracks immediately began to form on the rock.

Everyone’s faces went very sour.

“This is gonna stink,” Lutrudis muttered with resignation.

And with that, the rock broke apart, and the three friends fell once again. This time however, Sonic was the one who was quick to react, and pulled himself to one of the fractured pieces of rock. He planted his feet on it, and used his momentum to land with it on top of the snowy cliffs. Tails took notice, pointed at this turn of events for Lutrudis’ sake, and she got the message. With some struggle, they eventually grabbed their own pieces of rock, and used them accordingly. The three of them were now snowboarding.

“Ha! Great job, guys!” Sonic gave another friendly thumbs up to them, along with a wink.

“We’re not out of the woods yet!” Lutrudis pointed ahead fearfully. “Look!”

Sonic turned back around, and to his horror, the monster was emerging from the cliffs. Its dark colours contrasted strikingly with the blanket of snow it came out of.

—

**BOSS: The Wraith**

Well, this is different from your usual snowboarding section, isn’t it? Luckily for you, the controls for snowboarding are the same as they’ve always been… when they’ve been at their best, that is.

Anyway, despite being considered a boss, it’s really more of an endurance test. You simply have to reach the bottom of the mountain without getting killed by the Wraith. But obviously, it won’t make that objective easy for you. Among the usual obstacles like pits, trees, and rocky structures, you also have to deal with the Wraith’s own attacks, which include unleashing pillars of dark energy, firing giant lasers from its mouth, and causing terrifying shockwaves. It can also lunge straight for you, because it just wants a big hug (of death).

Despite this, it may seem fairly simple at first. But halfway through, you remember something… the mountain is only covered with snow at the top. It’s about to run out on your way down.

**Sonic: **It’s gonna get bumpy from here…!

The snow is exchanged for uneven rock, and unfortunately for you, this presents a problem. Your controls remain the same, but now you’re going all over the place because there’s no even slopes. The Wraith also decides now would be an opportune time to bring more attacks to the table, like firing two lasers at the same time, launching an onslaught of dark fireballs, and summoning thorny strands of energy that emerge from the ground out of nowhere. Keep a cool head, and you’ll make it. Towards the end, things get a _little_ better as the rock is in turn exchanged for grass. But the increased amount of trees make it difficult to avoid them, and some of the Wraith’s attacks now have the side-effect of sending them crashing down on you.

But make it till the end, and one of the trees will crash down on the Wraith itself, to which it turns back into mist and flees the scene out of - presumably - rage. Bit of an anticlimactic end, eh? At least we’ve escaped its clutches for today.

—

The three comrades continued to slide down the base of the mountain, until they finally reached the very bottom. They used their body weight to stop themselves in their tracks. Sonic checked to make sure the other two were okay, to which they both nodded.

“Well…” he stated, as he rubbed some sweat from his forehead. “That was something.”

“Eggman must have took some of those crystals already,” Tails acknowledged with worry. “Who knows what he plans on doing with them. And we may know that… _thing’s_ name now, but we still don’t know where it came from, or why it’s working for Eggman… AND we don’t know why he wanted to destroy the town by the meadow, or poison the jungle, or cause a flood…” His ears drooped out of frustration. “There’s so many questions about all this… I’m not used to Eggman being this coy…”

“Hey,” Sonic put his arm around Tails, with a comforting smile. “Baby steps are still steps, right? We’re making progress. Eggman will fail miserably and hilariously, like he always does.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Tails smiled in return. His ears slowly rose again.

“I guess we should head back to check on Amy and Cre-”

Sonic cut himself off in alarm, as he noticed that Lutrudis was holding her hips with an expression that implied she was in great pain. She was gritting her teeth to fight off the pain she was experiencing.

“Trudy…?”

“First time snowboarding… not compatible with it…” she said through pained breathing.

Sonic immediately felt guilty, and he glanced at Tails, who could only shrug out of sympathy. He turned back to Lutrudis while he rubbed his arm.

“I’m sorry, I should have known-”

“No, it’s… it’s fine,” she collected herself as the pain began to die down slightly. She smiled weakly at Sonic. “We didn’t have much of a choice up there.”

Sonic’s concern did not leave his face, but he decided not to argue with her reasoning. He turned to Tails again, and he simply shrugged again. Even after being told by the horse herself about her condition, there was clearly still a lot for them to learn.

“So are we heading back then?” Lutrudis asked, though she still sounded fatigued.

“Let’s wait for you to feel a little better first,” Sonic put his hand on her shoulder. “You did a lot today.”

Lutrudis blinked, and turned to Tais, who nodded approvingly with a gentle smile. Her gaze went back to Sonic’s. She looked troubled.

“Listen, if I’m slowing you guys down-”

“No,” Sonic cut her off firmly. He was staring straight into her eyes. “We’re not going anywhere without you. That condition you have… it’s just a condition. It’s not **you.** _You’re_ our friend, and I’ve never left a friend in the dust before. Why start with you?” He gave her a cheeky smile. “You don’t think going fast is_ all_ I care about, do you…?”

Lutrudis stared some more into Sonic’s green eyes, and a smile slowly formed on her own face. After what seemed to be a hint of hesitance on her part, she gently embraced the hedgehog. Sonic was slightly taken aback by her hug, as evidenced by his puzzled expression.

“Thanks, Sonic,” Lutrudis muttered with contentment. She turned her head to the fox. “You too, Tails,” she added happily.

Tails gave her a joking salute with one of his namesake. He tried to hide his own amusement upon noticing the look of bashfulness on Sonic’s face.


	7. The Will to Act

Ambience filled the air of a cold laboratory, filled to the brim with countless deranged experiments still in progress. A dark blue hue encompassed the facility, and only the beeping of computers and the flowing of liquids cancelled out the silence. That is, until the high-tech gate marking the entrance opened suddenly, and in walked Dr. Eggman. The lights immediately switched on, though the inherent darkness of the surroundings was still prevalent. He still had a grin on his face, and his swagger remained confident as he walked. His diminutive lackeys followed right behind their master.

“Sir, aren’t you at least a LITTLE concerned that the Wraith failed to defeat them…?” Orbot asked, though he knew the doctor would brush him off before he even got his answer.

“Bah!” Eggman scoffed, as he walked up to a large metallic table with blueprint papers. “If you worry over every little setback, you’d never get anything done. That’s something I’ve learned over the years. You gotta roll with the punches if you want the last laugh.”

He then took out a single grey crystal, evidently one of the crystals from Zephyr Mountain he managed to get away with. He examined it closely… He seemed to be able to sense the power within just by holding it, as he let out a heavy exhale through gritted teeth.

“Oh yes…” he paused, before putting the crystal down onto the table. His body crouched slightly, perhaps overwhelmed by what he just experienced. “I can feel it… right through the course of my veins… It feels…**_amazing…_ **This will be** _so_ **good when everything’s done.”

“So uh, what do these pretty crystals _do_, exactly?” asked a slightly weirded out Cubot. “They for a Christmas tree or somethin’?”

Eggman wordlessly glared at the robot for his inadequate levels of awareness. “No… they have a much greater purpose." He pointed at one of his papers, which included a sketch of two crystals. One grey, the other fully colored.

"The crystals we have now can already achieve great things. They can power my creations to new heights, and give them amazing strength. But _these_ ones… ” He placed his finger on the drawing of the colored crystal. “…are twice as much. No, **_ten times_** as much. These crystals are the ones with the most remnants of the Ethereal Zone’s power on this planet. With _them_, one can control the elements, and maybe even more…”

“But if that’s true, why are you looking for the Ethereal Zone itself?” Orbot questioned, while Cubot scratched his cuboid cranium. “Surely the crystals would be enough to satisfy your proverbial hunger?”

“It’s about climbing the **_scale_**, idiot,” Eggman sneered arrogantly, complete with a clench of his fist. “With these crystals, we get those crystals, and with THOSE crystals, we get closer to finding the Zone.”

“And what about the Chao?” the round robot asked again, as he mildly fidgeted.

“They’re still a priority as well. I wouldn’t waste time capturing them if they weren’t.” The doctor snapped his fingers, and pointed at both of his minions. “So I expect the two of you to investigate where Sonic and his annoying friends could have taken them, and where else there could be more Chao.”

“You got it, boss!” Cubot gave a hearty salute, and pulled Orbot close to him, much to the latter’s chagrin. “When you feel you’re gonna sob, Orbot and Cubot are on the job!” With that, he dashed out of the laboratory in seconds, dragging a distressed Orbot by the hand all the while. The scientist stood there for a brief moment, before shrugging to himself in resigned annoyance.

“I’ll do it myself later, they’ll probably screw it up somehow. But first…”

He picked up the grey crystal again, and this time he walked over to a row of test tubes, all of which were filled with a mysterious green liquid. Silhouettes of different sizes and shapes could be seen in each of them, but one test tube in particular caught his attention. With a growing grin, he pressed one of the buttons on the panel beside the tube, and slowly, the liquid began to clear away. The silhouette from within was still obscured ever so slightly by the shadows, but even those who weren’t the mad doctor himself would know straight away what was in that tube. Sonic certainly would.

“Wakey wakey,” Eggman called out in a sinister sing-song voice. He showed the crystal, and shook it a little, like a parent interacting with their own baby. “I’ve got a little present for you, son. Fancy settling your little vendetta with the _fake_ once and for all…?”

Immediately after he asked, a pair of red rings sprung to life where its eyes would be…

—

“So what do you think Eggman wants the crystals for?”

“Dunno. Maybe he wants them to give that monster more power… Or maybe they’re for some other weapon, like a laser cannon or something.”

“Oh, like the Eclipse Cannon?”

“Well, he’s tried some things more than once before, hasn’t he?” The hedgehog shrugged. “How many Death Eggs has he had again?”

Tails and Sonic continued to debate the motivations for Eggman’s crystal hunt as they made their way back from Zephyr Valley to Lutrudis’ castle. Lutrudis herself was walking beside them, with her hands behind her back, listening to her friends’ chatter while she looked around at the beautiful scenery presented by the valley. Her mind appeared to be elsewhere…

“You ever think Eggman will give up some day?” Sonic asked half-jokingly.

“I think we already know that’ll never happen,” Tails answered with a light chuckle.

“But he’s done everything to try and win!” Sonic pantomimed dramatically with his hands. “He’s sicced Chaos! He’s tore the planet apart! He’s disrupted the flow of time and space! And he STILL can’t beat us!” He grinned knowingly. “And you wanna know why?”

“Why?”

He suddenly brought Tails close to him and gave him a soft noogie. “Because he’ll never be as awesome as us!”

“Aww, come on, not in front of Lutrudis!” Tails laughed sheepishly, trying his hardest to cease the noogie. Lutrudis herself let out a small giggle at the sight of Sonic’s antics.

None of them noticed the top hat-donning robot hiding away through the trees. The robot’s hands continued to move erratically, as it spied on the heroic trio walking through the display of vibrant vegetation.

“You may be certain about that for now,” it whispered to itself in a feminine voice. “But in time, you will surely bow…_ ~hmm hmm hmm~_…” It vanished in another puff of fancy smoke, leaving as quickly as it appeared once again.

“Listen, guys,” Lutrudis spoke up, having decided to bring up what was on her mind. “I’ve… had an idea I’ve been going back and forth on. It’s about the crystals.”

“Oh?” Sonic let go of Tails, and the fox regained his composure. “What kind of idea are we talking about?” Sonic pondered.

The horse rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, and her eyes glanced over to the ground at her side. “It’s probably a silly idea, but… Suppose we were to fight fire with fire…”

“You mean… to use the crystals ourselves?” Tails correctly sussed. His tails swished at the mention of this prospect.

“Heh, close. You guys are probably fine as it is. But I had an idea involving… well, myself.” She pointed her thumb at her back, which her trusty bow was currently tied to.

Sonic raised an eyebrow at the implications, though he trusted that his friend knew what she planned on doing.

“Well, lead us the way, Trudy.”

—

After having returned to the castle, they immediately went back to the cavern underneath it. While Sonic went down the rocky steps like the previous time, Tails was generous enough to simply fly Lutrudis down to the cave, having remembered her struggle with steep steps. When they went inside the cavern, it looked exactly as it did last time, as rustic yet radiant as ever. The crystals once again gleamed heavenly, in all their multitude of colours to choose from.

“So…” Sonic started, curious as to what the horse had in mind.

Lutrudis motioned with her finger to halt Sonic’s words, indicating non-verbally that all will be explained. She walked up to a wall in the cavern, and with her other hand on her hip, she casually tapped it thrice with the back of her fist. Right on cue, a bunch of ropes came down from the roof, each of them holding onto what appeared to be plushies based on Eggman’s Egg Pawns. Sonic and Tails looked at each other in surprise at this sight.

Then, Lutrudis looked at a selection of crystals beside her. Each of them were glowing, and pulsating with the mysterious power they still hadn’t quite learned the full story of. Slowly, very slowly, after a brief moment of hesitance, she put her hand on a red crystal. She closed her eyes as she took a moment to exhale deeply through her nostrils, having felt its unexplained heat. Once she was ready, she opened her eyes once more, and gently plucked the crystal out of the ground.

Sonic’s quills straightened up slightly, and he and Tails looked at their friend in concern, uncertain as to what she was about to do. Nonetheless, they let her continue, knowing she was far from careless.

Without a word, she pulled out one of her arrows, and slowly pulled the tip of it off. After a few seconds of her glancing between the now-incomplete arrow, and the crystal itself, she carefully placed the crystal where the tip of the arrow once was. It was inserted onto the arrow with little issue.

“Woah,” Tails muttered in surprise.

Lutrudis grabbed her bow in one hand, with the new, specialised arrow in the other, and she turned her head in the direction of her two friends. She motioned towards the entrance to the cave, to which they understood immediately and backed up so they were further away. They clearly understood she wouldn’t want there to be an arrow in someone’s eye if something went wrong.

Still perfectly silent, she took her time to put herself into position, as she stared down one of the hanging Egg Pawn targets. She closed one eye, and got her bow and arrow ready. She could still feel the intense heat of the red crystal by being so close to it. A light bit of sweat went down her forehead. But she didn’t budge. She was ready… She aimed…

The hedgehog and fox closed their eyes, and crouched in anticipation…

** _FWOOOOM_ **

Sonic opened his eyes abruptly at the noise he just heard. He couldn’t see any arrow through his body, much to his own relief. He nudged Tails with his elbow, to which the younger one opened his own eyes in response. When they looked at Lutrudis, they couldn’t believe their eyes. She stared at the Egg Pawn plush… or what remained of it, as it had almost completely burned apart due to the crystal that remained stuck in its chest.

“Holy…” Sonic stopped himself, before Tails could hear. “That’s some Blaze business right there…”

Lutrudis still said nothing. There was little emotion on her face as she looked at the burnt Pawn… but something was clicking in her eyes. She went to the closest selection of crystals again, and this time, she picked out a blue one. She repeated what she did last time. Took an arrow, pulled the tip off, replaced it with the crystal. Her body mildly shivered, as the coolness of this crystal was a palpable contrast to the warmth of the previous one. Once again, she prepared herself to aim at another hanging Pawn, and when she felt ready, she fired away.

** _CCCLLLIIISSSHHH_ **

Another direct hit… but instead of burning up, this one was inexplicably frozen in an appropriately sized ice cube.

“Nice…!” Sonic muttered out loud, with an impressed grin on his face. Tails was similarly amazed by what he was seeing.

She decided to try out one more. She looked at yellow crystals, green crystals, among all colours upon colours… Her eyes stopped upon noticing a purple one. Its glow was significantly darker, more dimmer than the rest… and almost as black as the night itself. Despite showing even more hesitance than the previous two examples, she put her lingering fears aside and carefully plucked out the purple one, and repeated the process once more. This one didn’t feel hot or cold. Instead, it felt… strange. She couldn’t pinpoint what it made her feel. She aimed, braced herself…

But neither she nor her friends could have predicted what this one would do…

** _WWWHHHOOOOOOSSSHHH_ **

Everyone’s eyes were wide in complete and utter bafflement. Lutrudis in particular looked enormously dumbfounded. Did that Pawn just get… _sucked into a void?_ She looked to her side at another purple crystal, and then looked back at where the Pawn once was. The look on her face remained the same. She was completely puzzled, and possibly aghast.

Sonic and his little bro went closer to the green equine, still full of shock themselves. All three of them had trouble getting a single word out of their mouths. Even for as much as they already knew, they had no idea the crystals were capable of _that_ much power.

“Well…” Lutrudis tugged on her ponytail nervously, and let out an embarrassed chuckle. “This would be _quite_ awkward if my aiming stunk.”

“Trudy, this is… this is incredible! And kind of terrifying… We’ve GOT to show this to Amy and Cream!” Sonic looked again at where the Pawn was before it got whisked away by an actual, literal void. “No wonder Eggman’s after these things!”

“But if nothing else, they sure do look as though they could come in helpful,” Tails added. “Although, surely you’d run out of crystals eventu-”

Before Tails could even finish his spoken thought, a brand new red crystal popped out of the ground, exactly in the previous red crystal’s place. Likewise, a new blue crystal emerged from the ground in _its_ place, and a new purple one came to fill its own. Tails’ jaw hanged low. Sonic simply whistled in amazement.

“Oh yeah, that’s another thing,” Lutrudis smiled coyly, as she tilted her head and swung her leg back and forth while leaning on the other. She clasped her hands. “It’s not a finite resource. If you take one, another takes its place.”

“Man…” Sonic stroked his left quill, still dazzled at what his friend could do with these abnormal jewels. He was far from a stranger to them. He’s seen and used the Chaos Emeralds who knows how many times. He’s seen the Sol Emeralds. He’s seen the Master Emerald. He’s seen the Time Stones. He’s seen the Phantom Ruby.

But none of them were so prominently… multi-purpose in their specific capabilities. The rest would boost your power, distort time, create illusions, but these crystals had a whole slew of bells and whistles. And is it possible that they could_ stack up?_ If this was what they had to offer, what on earth could the Ethereal Zone itself be capable of…?

It was a scary thought for the Blue Blur. On one hand, he was glad he had a compadre who could use them effectively. On the other hand, Eggman would be able to do so much in so little time if he got his hands on them. And since it’s an apparently limitless resource, he’d _never_ run out of that power…

“So… was the sheer level of power why you were hesitant about this?” Tails asked while he rubbed his ear.

“Well, it’s one of the reasons,” Lutrudis sat down on the nearest rock, and put both of her hands to her sides. She crossed the ankles of her boots. “They say power corrupts and all, and I’d like to believe I’m more responsible than an entitled manchild with the nose to match.”

“You already are,” Sonic chuckled softly.

“But talking of Eggman… I’ve been a little morally conflicted about it,” the horse admitted.

“How come?” Tails questioned.

Lutrudis glanced at the crystals all around her, before she looked at her friends’ faces, visibly unsure of herself. “I want to do everything I can to help, and I really mean that. But… If I used the crystals this way… would that make me no different from the likes of him? You know, using a powerful natural resource for one’s own benefit… would that not make me just as contemptible as him, and others like him…?”

“Trudy, pal, it’s not the same thing at all, believe me.” Sonic sat beside her, and put an arm around her back, much to the horse’s surprise. “Eggman only cares about power, and nothing **but** power. That’s all he ever wants… that and maybe my head on a pike. When _he_ uses shiny magical doodads, it’s for the purest of selfish reasons, to appeal to his own ego at the expense of others… Trudy, I may have not known you for long, but I already know you’re not like that. Not one bit. Heck, unlike half of my other friends, we didn’t even fight after an easily avoidable misunderstanding!”

“Your reasons for using these crystals are perfectly benevolent,” Tails continued along, with a comforting smile. “You want to help _protect_ our world, to give our fellow people peace and security, instead of taking it away from them… you and Eggman couldn’t by any more different with your intentions.”

Sonic pointed his thumb at himself, with the characteristic smirk to match. “I’ve used the Chaos Emeralds to fight big bad monsters and giant scrap piles for years. Don’t see _me_ going full Egghead, do you?”

Lutrudis looked at one of the crystals behind Sonic’s position, before exchanging eyesight with him once more. Her demeanour relaxed. “No,” she smiled tenderly. “I suppose not.”

“Uh, sorry to interrupt the scene guys, but…”

The three of them were immediately alert at the sound of a new voice entering the scene. It didn’t sound at all like Eggman, thankfully, but it was also too gruff to be Amy or Cream… and masculine.

“We would just like to talk with Sonic,” another voice piped up. It sounded younger than the first voice, but it too was gruff, and definitely male. “Your friends told us you were down here.”

“Those crystals are so PRETTY!!!!” a third voice shouted enthusiastically. The pitch was notably higher with this one. “Can we take one? _Pleeeaaase???_”

“Quiet already, sheesh!”

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, as he soon recognised their identities before he even saw their shadowed figures. “Oh, it’s just you guys, the… what are you guys called again?”

“The Chaotix Detective Agency,” Vector the Crocodile announced with pride as he entered their field of vision. “At your service, sirs and madam!”

Sonic and Tails exchanged blank looks with each other. Lutrudis merely waved awkwardly at the newest face.


	8. Lambs to the Laughter

“So uh, is there something we can do for you?” Sonic asked Vector, as he leaned to his side against the cavern wall. He was still surprised that the crocodile of all people came to Viridonia out of the blue, along with his crew. The others were naturally just as curious.

“Well, we didn’t come all the way here just to look for you, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Vector explained quickly. “We were actually taking a vacation here, since we figured we could do with one! Hardworking detectives need some R&R too, after all!”

“No one’s been coming to us lately anyway,” Espio dryly added, arms crossed.

“Shhhhhh,” the annoyed crocodile whispered, with a finger at his mouth. He turned back to the group. “Anyway, we soon learned about this big monster going around terrorizing the people, and that Dr. Eggman was here too. Now, I’m an easygoing man, but I couldn’t sit by while that moustached monkey is afoot. So we decided-”

“YOU decided,” Charmy cheekily corrected.

“…WE decided to get to the bottom of it and figure out what’s going on. Unfortunately though…” Vector scratched the back of his scaly head in embarrassment. “Despite our skills, we’ve been having difficulties so far. Been one step behind every step of the way, cause of… well…”

He nodded towards the hedgehog. Sonic took a moment to realise the implication, as shown by his confused glance with Tails. But the moment it clicked, his gradually smiled sheepishly. He shrugged along with it.

“Well, Sonic isn’t my name for nothing,” he chuckled mildly.

“Now you guys are always in the center of Eggman’s schemes, right? So we reckon that if we stick around with _you_, our chances will be greater.”

“Otherwise we’d be clueless!” Charmy beamed.

“Charmy, geeze!”

“Well, that’s fine with us, Vector,” Tails smiled earnestly, yet slightly awkwardly, having attempted to conceal his begrudging amusement at the detective’s frustration. “Any help is good help. Right, Sonic?”

“Right on, little buddy,” Sonic agreed, with a thumbs up directed at the fox. He turned his head. “How about you, Trudy? You okay with them tagging along?”

“Of course,” Lutrudis answered casually and without hesitance, despite her initial perplexment at the newcomers’ presence. She walked closer to the Chaotix, and smiled at them. “Long as their hearts are just, you won’t see me dismissing these… characters. I’m Lutrudis, by the way.” She bowed respectfully towards them.

“Pleased to meet ya, Latruedish!” Vector announced proudly, with his hands on his hips, and a toothy grin. Espio looked subtly horrified by his teammate’s abysmal pronunciation. Tails likewise cringed internally. The smile on the horse’s own face did not falter in the slightest.

“So doing detective talk for a sec,” Sonic started semi-jokingly. “Got any leads on where we should head to first?”

“Yes actually,” Vector boasted. “Before we came here, we had deduced the very probable likelihood that Eggman may be heading for… Merry Villa.”

“Merry Villa?” Lutrudis questioned, as one of her ears lowered. “But that’s not an huge monument or anything, that’s just… the theme park. Why would Eggman head there? I mean, I know the doctor has a history with theme parks, but that can’t be the only reason, can it?”

“You are severely underestimating his preferences,” Espio mused, as he polished one of his shuriken.

“Yeah, he’s got an obsession with them… a _major_ obsession with them. I would know…” The tone in Sonic’s voice indicated his memory had recalled a certain amusement park of the past that the doctor created… his tone also indicated he swiftly wanted to forget about it.

“So let’s gooooo! I wanna see it too!” Charmy immediately flew out of the cavern in a frenzy of ecstasy, to which an exasperated Vector followed him, who was in turn followed by Espio. Sonic was about to follow suit, but he turned to Lutrudis with a smile.

“Maybe we’ll have some fun there too,” he suggested, before he walked out. As Tails waited patiently for Lutrudis, the latter glanced at the crystals all around her, each of them still brimming with different energies. Her body language initially conveyed a hint of hesitance, a doubt that it was her position to use them. But she recalled her friends’ words of wisdom, and after putting her doubts aside for the sake of the now, she opened up her backpack…

—

“Are you sure they’ll be alright in there?” Tails asked in reference to the bag full of excited Chao that was twice the size of Cream, which the young rabbit was nonetheless holding onto with surprisingly little effort.

“Yes, Tails,” Cream replied happily. Lutrudis was personally unsure about bringing the Chao along with them to a place where Eggman might be, but it was either that or leaving them on their own in the castle, and Amy had already insisted with great enthusiasm that she and the rabbit come along to check out this Merry Villa. The horse trusted that her friends knew what they were doing, since they’ve been on more adventures than her.

They were running through the quiet streets of Lime Shores, albeit not at their highest running speed, as Sonic finally remembered that not all of his friends were as lightning fast on their feet as he was, and he didn’t want to take a toll on Lutrudis’ sensitive legs. The town itself was drastically different than how Sonic was used to it. Far from the turquoise he was accustomed to seeing in the daytime, the starry night gave the buildings a sheen of purple and pink. It clearly wasn’t a simple paint job, as every last building was altered in the same way, and they looked even more translucent. Could this have a connection with the Ethereal Zone’s lingering effects too…?

Whatever the story was, it looked incredible. The blue hero mentally cursed Eggman for disrupting their intended vacation time in such a beautiful region, and made yet another mental note to himself to check this all out for longer after the villain was dealt with.

“You think cute couples can get in free at this one?” Amy joked in Sonic’s direction, though not without sounding a tad hopeful. Sonic simply smirked.

“As if we won’t get in free regardless,” he snarked playfully. “We’ve never NOT got into these things for free… Casino Night, Casinopolis, Casino Park… It’s kind of amazing, now that I think about it.”

“Well, you ARE the hero of the world. Maybe they understand that they’d all be suffering under Eggman’s rule if it weren’t for you?” Amy smirked in return.

“Or maybe they suck at their jobs,” the male hedgehog laughed, and Amy laughed along with him.

Meanwhile, Lutrudis tried to strike up a conversation with the Chaotix, in an effort to get more acquainted with them. “So you guys don’t like Eggman either?” she asked as she glanced up at Vector.

“Nope,” Vector stated firmly, eyes straight ahead. “He’s a scoundrel.”

“He’s corrupted,” Espio added.

“He looks weird!” Charmy finished, and made a weird face of his own to go along with it. “With that pink nose and those whiskers on his face!”

“Well, I quite agree that he’s a menace.” Lutrudis was still pacing herself to decrease the chances of her body overexerting itself. “And you help Sonic out on occasion, to defend the world against his horrific tyranny? That’s very noble, and commendable.” She let out another friendly smile.

Vector paused. He soon realised that their actual reason of wanting Eggman to pay up for an incident years ago might not sound particularly dashing, and he didn’t want to bust his first impression.

“…Yeah. Sure.”

“Ooooh, is that it?” Cream pointed, still not affected in any way by the weight of her bag full of Chao. The rest of the group were so deep into their conversations that they hadn’t realised they were already there. Lutrudis checked for each of their reactions, and outside of Espio’s low-key intrigue, they were all dazzled.

“~Chao!~” Cheese cried happily.

“That’s it, alright,” Tails muttered in amazement. “That looks…”

“AWESOME!” Charmy completed the fox’s sentence without asking.

“This is perfect for us!” Amy beamed, and hopped slightly in excitement. “Way better than Eggman’s glorified death traps! What do you think, Sonic?”

“Uh…”

It really was something else. His adventures had sent him through countless amusement-related facilities in the past, made by Eggman or otherwise, but for one that _wasn’t_ devised by the scientist, it certainly had just as much unique grandeur. Behind an impressively-sized archway, with the title carved into it, were the expected rollercoasters, big wheel, challenges… all complimented by giant marble structures and walls, the latter of which were decked out in a selection of funky patterns with paint. The hero couldn’t guess if there was any symbolic meaning to them, but partly because he was also distracted by the many spherical trees throughout the park, each of them boasting different coloured leaves from red all the way to purple. The cobblestone on the ground was practically polished, and the grass alongside it was a faint, bubblegum pink.

Of course, some of this was harder to notice among the crowds upon crowds of ecstatic citizens running around and having the time of their lives. But Sonic noticed all of it regardless, and if the glint in his eye hadn’t given it away, he was undoubtedly impressed with the showing.

“At least we’re getting in free after all… like always… Hey, while we’re here…!" His attention compromised, he ran up to a rotund mole, who was standing beside a Test Your Strength challenge.

"Really?” Espio scoffed. “Right now?”

“Yeah, aren’t we kind of… looking for Eggman?” Tails wondered in confusion. “Not that I don’t like the look of this place, but…”

Sonic wasn’t paying attention to them however, as his eyes were focused intently on the prize at stake: a real necklace in the style and pattern of a flower crown. He knew Cream would **_love_** the look of this, and he was determined to win it for her.

“May I?” he asked the older mole, as he picked up the hammer required for the challenge.

“Go right ahead, sir,” he replied in a posh accent.

The hedgehog chuckled to himself, as he tightened his grip on the hammer. Everyone else gathered round, some more reluctantly than others. He prepared himself, he aimed at the target on the ground, he threw himself back, and with lightning speed…

**WHACK!**

…He didn’t get it.

“What!?” Sonic barked angrily. “How the heck was that not strong enough!? Is this rigged?”

“Anyone else want to try?” the posh mole asked, not answering Sonic’s question. His moustache hid the amused smirk on his face.

“Me!” Amy called out as she raised her hand. “Got experience with hammers, you know,” she winked playfully. The mole nodded wordlessly, and handed the hammer over to her. Sonic was still visibly annoyed at the implication that the guy who beat numerous ancient entitles was _apparently_ not enough for this simple carnival challenge.

Amy readied herself, with a closed eye, and her tongue sticking out. Espio was rolling his eyes, and Vector put his hands in his pockets rather awkwardly. With a lot of energy, she gave it her all…

“Yah!”

**WHACK!**

…Still no victory.

“Aw, come on!” she complained. “I totally put everything into that one!”

“Anyone else…?” the mole asked again. He was not too subtly entertained by these proceedings. “Perhaps you, madam?”

He looked in Lutrudis’ direction. She blinked, and turned to Sonic and Amy. They both shrugged. Turning back, she nervously walked up to the mole, despite her obvious lack of confidence. Might as well try it for Cream’s sake, right?

“Don’t be shy, you _might_ have what it takes…” the mole chortled lightly. Lutrudis laughed unconvincingly at his reassurance, but slowly took the hammer from him anyway. She walked up to the target on the ground, positioning herself as carefully as she could. Her tail flicked slowly back and forth as she focused. She closed her eyes tightly, as she prepared to strike…

**WHA-_BOING!_**

She opened her eyes, taken off guard by a very different noise. She looked at the moustached mole, who looked as though he had seen a ghost. She turned to everyone else, who all shared the exact same expression. Wondering what they were all looking at, she glanced at the top of the machine… or rather, where it used to be. It was now on the ground, broken, along with the meter itself.

She stared at the ruined machine blankly, only blinking a few times. She then stared at her hands, which were still gripping onto the hammer. She looked at the machine again, with the same blank emotion. Incredibly slowly, she shyly gave the hammer back to the mole, whose gaze was still in the same place. She stood beside him, with her hands behind her back. Her eyes glanced to the side.

“So uh…”

Without a further word from her, he handed the necklace over to her. His head still didn’t turn, nor did the bewildered look on his face.

“Thank you, sir…” Lutrudis mumbled nervously, before she turned to Cream to give the prize over. As soon as she saw it, and realised it was for her, the rabbit jumped for joy and hugged the horse’s legs. Lutrudis in turn simply pat her on the head, smiling contently. The rest of the group, Sonic and Amy included, walked away from the scene one by one, still notably shocked by what just happened. As Cream skipped along to catch up with Amy, Lutrudis stopped for a moment, and walked back to the elderly mole. His face was _still _exactly the same, and it seemed nothing would snap him out of his shock at this rate.

“Keep the change,” she awkwardly muttered as she placed a twenty note into his pocket. She walked off without another word, somewhat quickly at that.

—

** Merry Villa Zone **

** _Act 1: Parade Plaza_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
****Splats **\- “These may be the hoppiest bunnies I’ve ever seen. They’re also the most malicious, as they have full intention to flatten you with their springs. Cute as they begrudgingly are, they don’t hold a candle to Cream.”

**Dribbler** \- “The basketball kind, not the… you know… kind. Anyway, those bumpers they’re so fixated on aren’t just for show, for they’re capable of using their slam dunking expertise to do you in. I sincerely doubt they wish to welcome us to the jam.”

**Buyon** \- “More bunnies! But these ones are even less adorable than Cream, not to mention their peculiar talent of extending and defending themselves with a gelatinous substance, thereby rendering themselves impervious to your attacks until they shrink back down. You would think they’d stay like that forever with such a defense.”

**Glider Pawn** \- “Purple as the night, Glider Pawns serve their namesake by riding atop their bat-shaped contraptions. They hang around in the air like a pungent smell, and their pumpkin-themed grenades show no mercy. Apparently, they’re not too fond of arachnids.”

**Mimento **\- “These lanky boys take their business to a new level, as their hand miming _somehow_ deflects you if you try to swipe them, as if they were using a shield. Your best bet is to catch them from behind. The doctor ought to be ashamed for giving monochromatic people a bad name.”

**Unicrusher **\- “There’s no one riding them, but these unicycles can roll along just fine, and their spiked wheels do little to slow them down. Perhaps we could get one of the spikes to pop them?”

Welcome to Merry Villa, the brightest park in the land, and an adrenaline junkie’s dream for no extra charge. (Suppose Heavy Rider would be up for it then.) The sights and spots may catch your attention, but you better not gawk for long if Eggman is around, and that’s assuming he’s alone. But you _are_ the fastest around, so maybe you could get away with it…

The fancy, multi-layered fountain in the center highlights the considerable deco of the park, with a few parkgoers tossing a ring into it to make a wish. What could they be wishing for? To become a billionaire? To cure all the world’s diseases? …To not get killed by robots tonight? You can go right in the fountain and take those rings for yourself if you really want to, though Lutrudis will advise against it for moral reasons. On the other hand, Vector will strongly suggest it for monetary reasons.

The tall lampposts along the pathways illuminate the area nicely, but so do the grenades of the meddling Glider Pawns. If you defeat them quickly enough, you can briefly ride atop their gliders yourself, before they eventually explode. Note that they only go straight ahead though, meaning they turn about as well as _you_ did back in Soleanna. (Relax, the illusion that you don’t remember that one died ages ago.) You can also interact with the workers in oversized mascot suits, which includes possums, jackrabbits, and bobcats. Their appearance seems to be somewhat derivative… and the kids seem to be weirded out by them too.

**Bobcat Mascot: **There’s no need to be afraid, boys and girls! What could possibly go wrong?

**Sonic: **Your career, apparently…

You can also run up and along the mildly psychedelic patterned walls, which are occasionally separated by small streams of water. And then there’s the rides themselves. Climb up the big wheel (or fly, if you’re Tails) to get a good view, race along the rollercoasters for shortcuts, scale the swinging pirate ships to nab some hidden items, and watch out for dodgem-manning Egg Pawns. Note that if you take a route involving an especially speedy or momentum-based ride, Lutrudis will always take a detour, as those kind of rides wouldn’t do her body any favors.

By the way, yes, she noticed the merry go round. Yes, she noticed it had horses. Yes, she knows Sonic noticed them too.

**Lutrudis:** Go on then. What witticism do you wish to share about them?

**Sonic:** Well, they’re not as pretty, I guess!

**Lutrudis:** …???…

If you climb the big wheel, you can actually see some of the other zones in Viridonia, hiding far away in the background. And not just the ones you’ve already explored, but a few examples of new territory as well… including a mountain even greater in scale than Zephyr Mountain, covered completely from top to bottom in snow. As beautiful as it looks, you can’t help but sense something foreboding about it…

Aside from the aforementioned Glider Pawns, Buyons and Mimentos will prove to be the biggest annoyances of this Badnik selection. Luckily, you’ve dealt with Buyons in the past, and the strategy for them before works just as well here, so just wait for them to shrink. Mimentos don’t cause any damage themselves, but they have a knack for standing near obstacles that _will_ hurt you. All the more reason to use your head when dealing with these jokers.

The end of the stage is signified by the presence of a tunnel. A rather pretty tunnel actually, that’s teeming with waterfalls and flowers. Wait, you don’t think this could be…

—

“A Tunnel of Love!” Amy gushed merrily. “Not even Twinkle Park had one of these! Let’s try that out!”

“All of us…?” Espio muttered awkwardly. He didn’t think his expert ninja training would come to this, though it wasn’t as if he had anything better to do at this moment in time.

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Cream complimented cheerfully, and the numerous Chao on her person were voicing their approval as well, in their famously distinctive language.

“Seems kinda girly though…” Charmy thought, clearly not as impressed with it as he was with the rollercoasters. “Like Vector’s singing.”

“I heard that!” the crocodile complained.

“Can we, Sonic? Pretty please?” Amy made sure to master her best puppy dog eyes for maximum effect. Sonic rolled his eyes, though it was obviously in jest.

“Whatever, no harm I guess,” Sonic shrugged as they all got on the nearby boat one by one. In another stunning display of the hedgehog’s luck with parks, no one was there to demand a fee from him. The boat itself was - somewhat predictably for this occasion - shaped like a large gondola, and it had no trouble with housing eight anthros. And Chao. Tails was at the front, followed by the Chaotix, then Amy and Cream, then Sonic and Lutrudis.

As their little ride through the tunnel started, they immediately noticed that the roof of the tunnel displayed huge constellations, and other forms of dazzling astral projections. Neon purple lights shined throughout the “night sky”, which reflected off the water and flora. Amy and Cream were immediately hooked, as was Tails.

“Man…” Vector let out quietly.

“Okay, this is pretty rad,” said Charmy, having retracted his previous sentiment.

Everyone was deeply focused on the spectacle, and Sonic himself was no different. It almost reminded him of his experiences in the Chaos Emeralds’ ever changing pocket dimension. He turned to Lutrudis to see her own reaction, and he saw the purple reflect off her brown eyes. He noticed this for perhaps longer than necessary.

“This is the first time I’ve been here,” she commented, her eyes still looking up. Her arms were resting on her knees. “Never thought it would look like this.”

“Really? Your first time? You’ve never been to the park in your own region?” Sonic raised an eyebrow, shocked by this claim. He looked around himself, taking the scenery in once more, before turning back to her. “Not a fan of places like this?”

“Oh no, it’s not a taste thing,” Lutrudis answered. “It’s not that they’re not made for me. Rather, it’s… the opposite.” She rubbed her arm with a little unease, clearly uncomfortable with having to remember the countless ways her life had to be made needlessly complicated through an undesirable situation. “I can’t really get much mileage with most rides…”

Sonic continued looking at his friend. Though he understood her words immediately, he also sensed through her troubled body language that this wasn’t just limited to parks.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Trudy, but… you don’t go out much, do you?” he asked out of concern. He really hoped she wouldn’t be offended.

Lutrudis glanced at the others. She looked at Amy and Cream’s unrestrained glee at the tunnel’s beauty, and smiled, though it appeared bittersweet.

“No, not really. I know where everything is around here, but outside of my immediate area and the town, that’s pretty much me.” She chuckled. “I don’t suppose the guardian of the Master Emerald would sympathise.”

Sonic chuckled in turn, though that passed quickly. For someone who has lived the life that he has, and continues to live, it was obvious to him from his friend’s tone that she desperately wanted to change this aspect of her own life, but felt unable to do so. All because of an illness beyond her control.

“You know… there’s still a lot of places in the world,” the hedgehog pointed out innocently. He didn’t seem to realise he had scooted closer to her. “In all shapes and sizes. Surely there’s many that would suit your needs, even if others don’t.”

Lutrudis paused to contemplate his suggestion. She appeared to be unsure about it, but after finding solace in his famous green eyes, which once again failed to show any sign that he didn’t mean what he said, her ears slowly lowered.

“You really think there’s more out there for me…?” she questioned.

Sonic simply nodded, with a warm look on his face. Lutrudis, very gradually, returned the hero’s smile, not noticing that her hand was now slightly on top of his. If Sonic noticed it, he didn’t show it, nor did he complain.

“Looks like this is the end of the path!” Tails called out, as he pointed towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Thank god, I was starting to get seasick,” Vector muttered, his face having turned slightly blue.

“In a love tunnel…?” Espio queried.

“S-Shut up…”

—

** _Act 2: Toy Towers_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
****Spiker **\- “Pointy, aren’t they? But they’re not. By violating common sense and bouncing on them, you will find that their spiked form is but a clever ruse. It’s rather a shame that they tend to hide alongside_ real_ spikes…”

**Ringleader** \- “Their blocky arms may look tough, but their danger actually comes from their underside, which can detach from the main body and slice you up like a particularly gruesome boomerang… Bonza…?”

**Guards** \- “These… uh, guards, come in threes, and though they may be smaller than a mouse, they’ve got bombs hiding in those trumpets. Even though they can still _play_ the trumpets just fine…”

**Slitty** \- A slinky may be for every girl and boy, but if they’re this sharp and hazardous, they’re hardly a joy. Be cautious with stairs and ledges, as they like to hang around them… or drop down from them, to be more accurate.“

**Boxfiend** \- "It’s a box, and there’s a fiend inside… Brilliant. The striped jesters within are eager to pound you into dust with their oversized boxing gloves. Might want to watch your ear…”

**Blocker** \- “Now the ABC’s are trying to kill us. What will they think of next. Depending on which letter their face is, they can either open up to reveal a flamethrower, or they can… give you rings…? Was this an intentional design choice…?”

**Returning Enemies:  
**Dribbler

**Sonic:** Toys…?

**Tails: **Lots of them!

**Cream:** I like this place!

**Espio: **I don’t.

Yes, it would seem that the Tunnel of Love brought us to a place where everything is made from toys. And I do mean everything, including the very ground you step on. The grass and the trees look as though they’re made out of paper, and the towers made of different colored blocks are a size worthy for a giant’s son… or Eggman, if you want to argue about what constitutes for a child.

Anyway, there’s a whole bunch of gimmicks here, which naturally work in tandem with the motif going on here. Basketballs bounce along the ground, which you can jump on to gain height for trickier jumps, though you can also get crushed if you’re underneath. You can jump even higher by bouncing on the giant trampolines, but you can also bust them if you strain them too much. Bonus points can be gained by scoring a bullseye on the dartboards… with the dart in question being you.

On another note, have you secretly entered a cartoon universe (that isn’t your own)? It might feel that way, because you also have to deal with falling anvils, walls that don’t actually exist, and stacks of dynamite lighting up on seemingly their own accord. Who could possibly be causing all this… _magic?_

**Sonic:** Did anyone else hear a weird… laugh?

It’s this level where the Chaotix will really get to help you out. In areas where there’s a lot of basketballs, Espio can fire his shuriken to pop some of them, which gives you a little more leeway. Vector, if you desire, can use his music to knock down some towers, which can reveal some hidden goodies. And Charmy can take care of some enemies in the air if you’re busy dealing with them on land. Of course, the others in your group can still help out as well.

“~Mmm hmm hmm!~”

**Tails:** There it is again! That laugh!

**Amy:** Come on out and show yourself, coward!

**Lutrudis:** Wonder what they find so funny…

Around the halfway point, you’ll arrive in what appears to be an elaborate mini-golf course. There’s no ball though, so I guess you’ll have to stand in for it. There’s plenty of smooth slopes to get your speed going, but be careful as you roll under narrow windmills, and avoid the holes that count as pits. There should really be a safety inspector for this.

The further you go on, the more the oddities ramp up. Some of the walls will suddenly try to flatten you, enemies will start appearing out of thin air, and at one point, even Sonic himself gets a different coat of paint, his fur now being green with black on top.

**Sonic:** HEY! Change me back right now, whoever you are! Or else…!

**Magician: **Only if you win, my blue comrade. But I fear this resulting match, will become quite sad!

**Sonic:** Oh great, it's _you…_

**BOSS: Heavy Magician**

Magician is a talkative robot.

**Magician:** You shall not evade my tricks, for this time the doctor’s victory will stick!

She also likes to rhyme.

**Magician: **Are you daring to have a go? Try as you might, this will be your last foe!

A lot.

**Magician: **Don’t see fit to be so coarse, for there are many things I could do to your horse!

**Lutrudis:** Thanks for making me feel involved, I guess…

The witch-like fiend tends to fly all around, waving her erratic hands all the way. Though she’s not afraid to fire a drop of magic directly at you now and then, she favors using the environment against you. In addition to making enemies appear and altering the walls to squash you, she also summons falling anvils, and she can knock the block towers herself at the expense of your own wellbeing. Unsurprisingly, she also hides a lot of the time, which includes making herself invisible.

The key to beating her is by out-tricking her. She may fly around, but she’s usually close to where you are. So if, say, you activated one of the squashing walls, and waited till the last second to escape from it… you might just get _her_ squashed in your place, which will deactivate her invisibility cloak for a brief period. Give ‘er the ol’ one-two spin, and the cycle repeats.

…For a while. But she sees your ways eventually, and thus she decides to change tactics. How? By doing what every annoying boss worth their salt does… by cloning herself. You now have four copies of Magician to deal with, and you gotta figure out which one’s the real deal. How do you do that? By noticing something off about their design? By noticing a difference in speed?

Nope. You just need to wait until the real Magician blabbers in rhyme again, thereby giving herself away, as the clones don’t say anything. As punishment for her vice, you can keep up the beatdown, and after eight hits in total, the rascally robot will fly away, but not before one last ominous message…

**Magician:** Your strength and speed may be worth a crave, but when you see what we have in store, you will share a pretty grave!

—

“At least my fur’s back to normal,” Sonic muttered, as it restored itself to its usual blue. “I’d like to see her try that again…”

“What did she mean about us sharing a grave?” Cream asked fearfully. One of the Chao in her bag tried valiantly to pat the side of her head.

“Don’t listen to her,” Amy put her hand on the young rabbit’s shoulder. “She’s just trying to scare us,” she added confidently. Just after she said this, her ear suddenly twitched madly. She appeared to feel a strange and unexpected sense of euphoria, judging from the strong look on her face.

“Is it just me, or do I smell something _really_ tasty?”

The rest of the group exchanged glances of varying confirmation, until Amy pointed to where she thought it came from. Another tunnel from the looks of it, although this one had no water. Just by getting closer to it, her ear twitched again, even faster this time.

“DEFINITELY through here,” she stated, with a hint of hunger lust.

“Don’t you think this might be a trap?” Tails asked hesitantly. He looked behind him to see if anyone was following them through the tunnel.

“Indeed, we haven’t encountered the doctor in this facility yet,” Espio mentioned.

“Who cares? I’m hungry!” Charmy reasoned.

Lutrudis raised an eye at the bee’s apparent lack of self-preservation, though that’s not to say she wasn’t amused. She looked into her backpack, which - in addition to her usual arrows - was now filled with the mystical crystals from her cavern. Was it really a good idea to bring them along…?

“No trap would get past us. Besides, even if it is, we can take it on no prob-”

Sonic cut himself off upon witnessing the sight in front of him. Everyone else was similarly speechless, and Vector was practically salivating. Standing tall and proud was a land made almost completely out of tasty treats, and colorful delights. Checkered walls were made entirely of chocolate, hills were made of ice cream, rivers were made of strawberry milk, candy canes were planted here and there, bridges were made out of ice lollies… tempting was an apt word to describe this place. Why there weren’t more people _here_ remained a mystery.

“This is gonna be bad for my diet,” Vector confessed.

“You don’t have a diet,” Espio countered.

“Fine, _hypothetical_ diet.”

“I can’t resist…” Amy weakly muttered, before pouting sadly. “But I know I have to…”

“I feel you,” Sonic replied, similarly fighting the temptation for the sake of finding Eggman. Lutrudis simply clenched her chest with her arms to fight against her own hunger. Tails had to be pat on the back by both Cream and Charmy as he puffed out in exhaustion at the prospect of there being mint candy.

—

** _Act 3: Confectionery Factory_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
****Gingerdread** \- “Horror movie material right here. With their candy-colored ice picks, these grinning treats could skewer you if you’re not careful. Pray tell, why must the doctor corrupt something so sweet?”

**Caramelt** \- “These sentient blocks of chocolate look harmless enough, but getting close to them will cause them to separate and extend themselves through molten caramel. Way I see it, if you can’t eat it without it burning your mouth off, it has simply failed as an edible.”

**Gobshocker** \- “They’re blue and round just like you, Sonic. But they’re twice your size, and they can charge themselves with electricity. Won’t be eating that one, then…”

**Jellybomber** \- “They’ve got a lot of jellybeans in their glass cases, but don’t get your hopes up, they’re just explosives. Doesn’t matter which colour they fire, they’re all made with the intent to blow you to kingdom come… _Maybe_ the red ones aren’t too bad though…?”

So I guess Viridonia is pretty lax about getting sued…

But who could blame the heroes for their temptation? This is every diabetic’s greatest dream. And there’s so much to choose from, so there’s bound to be something for you! Candy, chocolate, ice cream, killer robots, the list is endless!

Naturally, there’s a lot of gimmicks here as well. Giant muffins take the place of trampolines, you can spin up candy canes, and cake frosting works exactly the same as ice, though fortunately the latter sections are rarely next to anything especially dangerous. Licorice can be grinded on, and the strawberry milk is free to swim around in… and your character will remain pink for a few seconds after they come out, much to their chagrin. And if you search hard enough, you can find candy based on Sonic’s own face! Complete with gumballs for eyes…

**Sonic: **…I look nothing like that.

If you’re able to run on top of one of the giant lollipops, with a little help from Lutrudis’ whip, you can get it to fall on its side and whack another lollipop on the way down, which will cause _that_ one to fall and whack another one, and the conker effect resumes until the last one crashes down onto a gate concealing a bunch of extra lives. Other tricks include pushing protruded chocolate blocks on the walls into their slots for more points (which Amy will occasionally sort out herself courtesy of her hammer), and just like in the jungles of Tricky Tropics, you can use the confectionery against your enemies should you possess the high intellect to do so. What’s the best way to get rid of a Caramelt? By dunking them with ten times more caramel!

Strangely enough, the trickiest obstacle aside from the robots are the bridges made from ice lollies. You see, they work just like ice as well, but the speed changes depending on which colour you’re currently sliding on… and the bridges consist of all the colours, meaning one moment you could be sliding normally, and the next moment you’re suddenly sliding at faster speeds. Here’s a handy checklist for which colours are which:

**Purple and Pink > Slow**

**Cyan and Blue > Moderate**

**Yellow and Green > Fast**

**Red and Orange > Might as well be Mach Speed**

So be careful. Otherwise your golden ticket will be for nothing. Did I mention that Gingerdreads sometimes occupy the bridges as well? At least they’re affected by the different speeds too.

Towards the end, which is signified by a whole pack of Gobshockers, Heavy Magician suddenly appears again to knock all of you into a nearby chute. The good news is that it’s just more strawberry milk. The bad news is that it’s a current.

**Vector: **Yaargh!

**Tails:** Hang on guys!

**Sonic: **It’s like the dam all over again!

**Magician: **~Mmm hmm hmm!~

This one is a little harder, because not only is the path notably more diagonal and confusing, there are also floating Jellybombers, whose ability to pelt you with candy-colored bombs has not been impeded by the current. There’s also a few more obstacles to avoid alongside them, like cherries and chocolate blocks. But if you persevere in one piece, you’ll make it out alive. Literally. You’re outside now, though still within the park. As you clean yourself up after that strawberry bath, you can spot some fancy lights in the distance, and a giant tent among them…

—

“Everyone okay?” Sonic asked, as he got the rest of the milk out of his right ear.

“Yeah… I think,” Amy replied, slightly knocked out by the prior affair. Cream checked frantically that every Chao they had was still safe and sound in her bag, and to her relief, they were. Espio was trying to wipe the pink off of his horn, to debatable success, and Charmy was cleaning Vector’s back. Tails used his twin tails to fan the rest of the substance off of Lutrudis.

“Well at least we’re out of there now,” Tails thought, though a hint of his hunger remained. “Any longer in there, and I would have acted on my impulses,” he joked.

“Maybe you SHOULD have acted on them!” an unexpected voice called out to them from a very loud radio.

“Eggman!” Amy got into her usual defensive position with her hammer, even though the doctor wasn’t technically present. “So you ARE here after all!”

“Of course,” the arch villain confirmed. “Gotta check out rival theme parks after all! This one isn’t bad, but I could make it so much better! And did they rip me off with that little candy factory of theirs…? How predictable for them to steal from _my _genius.”

“Alright doc, where’s the money?” Vector put up his dukes, and Espio and Charmy rallied beside him. “You KNOW I’ll never let that go until we get it!”

“Money…?” Lutrudis questioned.

“Oh, get over that already, you mediocre detective. I said I’d give you it once the world is mine, yes? Ever consider that getting in my way_ **delays**_ that? _Hmmmm?_”

“Where are you, Eggman?” Sonic demanded firmly. He knew the scientist was up to something from his far too casual tone, and he didn’t like it.

“You really want to know? Right here! In the Big Top! I’ve got a show of my own prepared, and I’d be grief-stricken if you missed it. Come inside… if you dare! Ho ho!”

The giant tent they could see even from a distance was a spectacle. It stood tall and wide, with red and white stripes, along with dozens upon dozens of bulbs around the outside perimeter that lit the place up nicely. Not that it needed them, since the surrounding area was also filled with lights, as well as smaller tents colored blue, with purple patterns. The spotlights shot up to the night sky, like a laser through butter.

The group looked at the main tent with a look of doubt, which they then exchanged with one another. Espio was already polishing his shuriken again, just in case.

“This is probably a bad idea,” Lutrudis said what everyone else was thinking, the innocent Cream included. The horse’s right foot was kicking the ground a little, possibly out of anxiousness.

Sonic nodded, though his look of determination remained. “But the only way our goose chase can end is when we get more words out of him. He’s got arrogance the size of a moon, he’ll blurt out something sooner or later.”

“And he’ll _give us our money_ sooner or later…” Vector added through gritted teeth, and clenched fists. Charmy offered a look of sympathy.

—

** _Act 4: Cirque de Spectre_ **

**Lutrudis’ Badnik Logs:  
****Boo **\- “Eggman isn’t a _witch_ doctor, is he? Because these don’t look like robots to me. And yet, given that they’ll attempt to grab you and halt your movement, these paranormal hoodlums appear to be in league with him anyway. Why, though…?”

**Pierrot **\- “As if clowns didn’t have a bad reputation already. These fellows are quite versatile, as they can juggle with skittles, carry around a hammer twice their size, or balance themselves on a big shiny ball. All three tactics deliver the pain regardless, so beware.”

**Juggle Saw** \- “This crabby duo shares a buzzsaw with each other, which they’ll hand over to one another after a short period. I think that might count as cheating in regards to juggling, but I’m hardly a circus connoisseur.”

**Jackalope** \- “These names certainly come from a right jackanape. Carved from metal rather than fruit, these pumpkins alternate between emotions. They take it easy with their bouncing if they’re sad, but if they look happy, they go extremely fast… you’re still the king of speed though, Sonic, don’t worry.”

**Leo **\- “It’s okay, it’s only a robot lion… actually, that might be worse. Either way, they’re quick to pounce on you, and they tend to do it in small packs. Good thing there’s just as many of us, wouldn’t you say?”

**Gumbo** \- “Goodness, those are sizable elephants! Not only can they use their long ears to blow you away, they can also shoot a gooey substance out of their trunks that will briefly immobolise you… and it kind of stinks a bit, but at least it isn’t fatal.”

**Returning Enemies:  
**Buyon  
Unicrusher  
Boxfiend

At least Eggman had the decency to indulge in his circus fantasies while the planet _isn’t_ being invaded by aliens this time. Pumpkins litter every corner, white gates are closed off, and lights flash on and off in different patterns. This place may have not been built by the villain, but he’s set up shop here nonetheless, as evidenced by his takeover of the big top and the usual robots running around causing mischief.

As Lutrudis already noted however, it’s not just the doctor’s goons you’re fighting this time. The Boos have appeared to menace our heroic anthros once more, and while they’ve had a history of lounging around Eggman-occupied establishments, here they seem to be actively working for him as opposed to remaining a neutral third party. You can tell this, because they have no compunctions about teaming up with the robots to knock you down. What did Eggman do to them…?

**Sonic: **Not the first time he’s enslaved ghosts.

**Lutrudis:** So not even the dead are safe from his tampering. That filthy beast…

They act exactly as they did all the way back in the A.R.K. incident. Luckily, they haven’t improved either, so a quick spin or tail whack will be enough for them to disappear. Most of the robots are actually the bigger problem, particularly the Gumbos and Leos. And yes, those two _do_ come together often, meaning it’s very easy to get Gumbo’s gunk on you, and immediately follow it up by Leos pouncing away at a now helpless you. The Badniks are getting smarter still with their strategies, but keep a collected head, and you’ll do fine.

As for the environment itself, you can grind on certain corners of the tents, and should they see you, the spotlights will summon more robots for you to deal with. If you can’t be bothered with that, you and Vector can team up to break them. There are also loads of floating red and white barrels, which you can use to gain more momentum, although Sonic seems to be rather iffy about them, for… _whatever reason…_

More daring obstacles include fiery hoops, the latter of which slowly turn around in the air, and rarely stay still. Venturing within the blue tents will treat you to trapezes that you can use, but watch out for Juggle Saws on the roof, as they might cut the wire with their sawblade. If it comes to that, there is mercifully no bottomless pit below… just a whole bunch of enemies, mostly Unicrushers. But you’ve got your friends (and the Chaotix) on your side, so we’re even. And do watch out for the knives that go flying towards boxes, lest you want a death that_ isn’t_ a trick.

As you get closer to the red tent, you can slowly start to hear a bunch of gibberish… familiar, high-pitched gibberish… It’s definitely not coming from the doctor…

—

“Alright doc, we’re ready for your little… game?”

No sooner than he went inside the tent was Sonic already caught by surprise. That same surprise reached everyone else’s faces, though Espio looked only mildly confused. The tent looked as you expected, as brightly lit as the outside, and sure enough, Eggman was right there, on a throne high above the arena, with Orbot and Cubot at his sides. For reasons only known to himself, he was inexplicably wearing a black suit and top hat, complete with red cuffs and a stripe above the brim.

That wasn’t what they were shocked about though. The screaming and pleading made that obvious. The audience, if you could call them that, were all watching behind bars, trapped in the tent for the purpose of watching Eggman’s little show against their will. Notably, Eggman showed no emotional reaction to their relentless cries for help.

“Oh thank god, it’s Sonic the Hedgehog!” a male giraffe noted, his neck poking through his bars. “Save us from this crazy man!”

“He’s been playing his theme song for hours!” exclaimed a hippo, depressed from knowing the words of I Am The Eggman by memory despite wanting to forget them.

“And one of his robots shocked my mate Jerry!” a grieving ape explained. “I saw it with my own eyes! You’ve gotta stop that fool, Jerry was a good man!”

“Hmph,” Eggman thought, as he crossed his arms. “Fool this, crazy that… Seems I can never get my deserved respect from you lot.”

“What’s respectful about enslaving innocents?” Amy questioned out of anger. Her hammer was ready to make contact with the doctor’s cranium the moment the opportunity presented itself.

“Why do you do these things, Dr. Eggman?” Cream asked in addition, clearly upset that he continued to spread malicious intent rather than repent.

“Chao?” Cheese mused.

“Release them right now, Eggman!” Sonic insisted, as his spikes bristled.

“Uh, no?” Eggman blew a raspberry at his nemesis, complete with his hand on his nose. Cubot laughed at this. “Yeah, like I’m going to just do as you say. Keep on dreaming, hedgehog.”

“Isn’t that what you expect from everyone else?” Charmy pointed out. Both Vector and Espio looked at the bee in surprise, as they weren’t used to this kind of reasonable logic coming from him.

“Wait a minute,” Eggman suddenly paused, after noticing the bag on Cream’s person. Whether he deliberately chose to dodge Charmy’s query was up for debate. He could spot a familiar water dropped shape tucked in at the top of the bag.

“Chao,” he muttered. His tone shifted. “You brought them here? Where you knew I would be?”

Cream froze in fear. She felt as though she was put on the spot. She didn’t know how to answer the doctor, and she couldn’t deal with feeling stupid. Said feeling increased by the second, and it was getting to her. Before she could mentally hyperventilate any longer however, Lutrudis stepped in front of her defensively, with her bow out.

“You’re still not getting them,” she bluntly stated. “They’re not your tools.”

“Oh yeah?” Eggman scoffed. “Says who?”

“Me,” Sonic answered. He stood beside Lutrudis.

“And me,” added Tails. He did the same.

“And me!” Amy said, as she went to the other side of the horse and rabbit.

“And us,” Vector pointed at himself, with his two associates alongside him.

“You know, they kind of had you there when you asked that,” Orbot pointed out, not even trying to hide his own amusement.

“Grrr, fine, so be it then!” He immediately went right back to grinning, as he took out a little bell. “Boo me all you want, ladies and gentlemen! You’ll be speechless after I do… ****_this!_”

He rung the bell, which echoed throughout the tent. Not a second after, a flurry of wind started up from the inside, to which the heroes quickly held on to each other to keep themselves from flying out of the tent. The unfortunate prisoners were banging against their bars due to the wind, which they very loudly complained about. It soon became apparent however that the wind… wasn’t wind. Rather, it was the entrance for a particularly spooky adversary.

“What the-!” Sonic let out in confusion. In front of them, out of the blue, was a gigantic ghost, with several of his followers by his side. His claws were bendy, his eyes were beady, and most jarringly of all, his tongue had all the colours of the rainbow. A certain echidna would have been all too familiar with this presence.

“BLARGH BLARGH BLAAAARRRRGHH!”

—

**BOSS: King Boom Boo**

Knuckles had an advantage back in the day, because it was still daylight when he fought Boom Boo. You do not have that advantage, and even if you did, there are no windows that could show him the light anyway. What’s the strategy for him this time then? Your audience wouldn’t know.

“What is that thing!?”

“But there’s no such thing as ghosts!”

“DON’T LET IT KISS ME!”

First off, your friends will take care of the regular Boos (Espio is the best at eliminating them due to his speed and weapons), but if you help them out, you can get rid of them quicker. This actually works to your benefit, for although you’ll have to avoid Boom Boo’s blue fire and stupid laughter in the meantime, getting rid of the Boos means you can ALL focus on _him._ Of course, you still can’t actually attack him, since there’s nothing around to weaken him…

Unless…_ the crystals…_

**Lutrudis:** Please don’t backfire on me…!

In a moment of ingenuity, Lutrudis will get the idea to use her yellow crystals, which have electric capabilities. It might not be light, but it’ll do. She might miss once or twice, but not as much as she would with the Paindozer. Her accuracy is getting better with moving targets, slowly but surely. With a direct hit from a crystal-imbued arrow, the king will be briefly paralyzed in shock, before he goes on a rampage around the arena. This is your chance for everyone and their dog to get a hit in, but beware, he’s still electrified don’t forget, so you need to time your hits to when he’s NOT covered in static. Eggman is quick to notice the power of the horse’s arrow, with an alarming intrigue.

**Eggman: **How… How did you do that…?

This process repeats two more times, but as you’ll expect at this point, he changes things up halfway through. Not forgetting his _other _main ability, Boom Boo will dig into the ground and become a shadow, and will continue to hide in the ground and on the tent’s walls unless you do something about it. All the while, the regular Boos will start using their master’s fire to thwart you. It’s at this point that Amy pipes up.

**Amy: **Maybe THIS will work…!

She will start hammering the ground with considerable force, which causes shockwaves. These shockwaves do not hurt you thankfully, although they can knock you on your derriere if you’re clumsy, as evidenced with it happening to everyone else, particularly Vector. These shockwaves, if they reach Boom Boo’s shadow, will not bring him out, but they WILL make his shadow bulge ever so slightly, for a brief moment. That’s your cue to slam down on him, which will send him flying out of the ground in a panic. Lutrudis will then bring out the arrows again, and the routine goes from there, although the amount of Boos increase with each hit.

On his sixth and final hit, Boom Boo will absorb all the Boos in the vicinity to double his size, and he takes up the center of the arena. He’ll send forth a very large pillar of blue flame from his mouth, and will go left and right with it, in different speeds. He won’t let up for a good while, and it can be easy for him to catch you out, but eventually he’ll tire himself out, with his tongue dangling from it. Lutrudis, somewhat begrudgingly because she doesn’t want to feel like a sadist, will fire an electrified arrow at the tongue. As he goes absolutely ballistic, time yourself right and attack him right in the mouth. It’s a critical hit, and he’ll cry out in pain, explode wildly, and disappear as mysteriously as he entered. Well, what does Eggman have to say about this turn of events?

—

“Awesome job, Sonic!” a female sheep called out from her cage.

“Can I get your autograph… after I’m out of here?” asked a nervous otter.

“Not bad,” Eggman dryly commented, clapping sarcastically all the while. He still had a smile on his face, which was seriously beginning to unnerve Sonic. He had seen it many times before, of course he had, but he could be counted on to lose it instantly and fly into a petulant rage the moment things went south. Why wasn’t that happening this time? What was he so consistently giddy about?

“You know doc, I remember the days when you used to fight me all the time,” the hedgehog said, trying his best to rile him up. His fists were still clenched. “Fought me in Green Hill, fought me in Emerald Hill, fought me in Splash Hill… What happened? Got cowardly on me?”

There was a glint in Eggman’s glasses. Yet his grin stayed put. “Not at all, my blue foe. I’ve simply become a busy man, and while we’re on that topic…** you.**”

He immediately focused on Lutrudis, who slightly jumped at the sudden attention. Deep down however, she already figured out why he turned to her.

“Your arrows,” he started. “Arrows don’t do that. Not on their own. You’ve altered them, haven’t you? And I think I know with what…”

There was a brief silence. Lutrudis and Eggman’s shared glare remained for what felt like forever. Tails darted his eyes back and forth, waiting to see which of them broke the silence.

“Your suspicions are true,” Lutrudis nervously, yet sternly replied. She saw no reason to hide or deny the obvious, since for all of the man’s flaws, he was far from dumb. “And you’re not getting those either. Not without a fight.”

“Hmph,” he scoffed again, looking at Orbot while he pointed at the lady like she was crazy. “And what, you think you’re on the same category as the rest here? With that jello you call a body?”

Lutrudis’ eyes froze.

He did not just say that.

The doctor’s grin grew wider, knowing full well that he struck her hard. “Yes, that’s right. I learned about your… _situation_, little pony. It’s why you use those crystals, isn’t it? Cause you know you’re nothing without them.”

She paused. And stuttered slightly. “That’s not why…”

“Okay, you shut up right now,” Sonic sneered at Eggman venomously, his spikes bristling up yet again. Amy was similarly fuming, and was gripping her hammer harder than ever. The Chaotix had no idea what they were talking about, but they disapproved of the doctor’s comments regardless.

“Oh, but it’s true though, isn’t it?” He snickered briefly, as did Cubot, despite the latter not understanding the discussion in the slightest. Eggman continued. “You wake up every day, knowing that the world around you looks down on you, for offering **_nothing._** Why settle for you, when they could settle for the gifted?”

“I swear Eggman,” Sonic huffed, while being held back by a cautious yet sympathetic Tails. “If you don’t shut your trap…”

Eggman leaned forward, as the light flashed on his grinning mug. He knew exactly what he was doing. “No one likes damaged goods, Lutrudis. Not even your supposed friends.”

“Don’t listen to him!” Cream cried out, who was clearly just as hurt by his remarks. “It’s not true! You’re not damaged like that!” Cheese appeared to be just as pained.

“What are you guys even talking about?” a confused rhino shouted. “We’re waiting to be freed here!”

Lutrudis struggled to retort. She knew he was lying. She knew Sonic wasn’t like that. She knew Tails wasn’t like that. She knew _none_ of them were like that. She knew better than to doubt them. She had no _reason_ to doubt them.

But that’s the thing. It wasn’t them she doubted… it was herself. It wasn’t a case of whether they were sincere, but rather whether she earned that sincerity to begin with. Did she really deserve their company…? Did she really deserve their companionship…?

“…Tell us why you want the Chao,” she finally said, in an effort to change the subject, as well as to help her friends calm down. “And the crystals. The Wraith. The Ethereal Zone. All of it. What are you doing all this for?” Her voice was lower than usual, which matched the conflicted and distracted look of guilt on her face.

In a small burst of relief, the doctor did in fact change to that topic. “Still haven’t figured it out, eh?” His smile increased in its smugness, and he crossed his legs stylishly. Evidently, he enjoyed being the smartest man in the room. He decided to humor his opponents’ wish, for if only they knew how far this rabbit hole truly went…

“What if I told you that it’s all… _connected…?_”


End file.
